The Impact of a Radiation Oncologist led Oncology Curriculum on Medical Student Knowledge

Abstract

Medical students at our institution all take a pre-clinical oncology course as well as a clinical radiation oncology didactic session during their clinical curriculum. The objective of this analysis is to demonstrate the impact of the radiation oncology didactic on medical student knowledge of core oncology concepts. All students received a standardized didactic lecture introducing students to core concepts of general oncology and radiation. We administered an 18-question pretest and a posttest examining student knowledge between 2012 and 2015. Changes in student responses between pre-test and post-tests were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of the didactic session. Over the course of three years, 319 (64.4%) of 495 students who completed the Radiology block completed both the pre-test and post-test. The average student test grade improved from 62.0% on the pretest to 69.6% on the posttest (p < 0.001). By category, students increased their score from 81.4% to 89.8% (p < 0.001) in general oncology, from 59.9% to 69.9% (p < 0.001) in breast oncology, from 43.0% to 51.0% (p < 0.001) in prostate oncology, and from 71.3% to 75.7% (p = 0.003) in radiation oncology. Students showed increases in knowledge across general oncology, prostate oncology, breast oncology, and radiation oncology.

Introductory Radiation Oncology Curriculum: Report of a National Needs Assessment and Multi-institutional Pilot Implementation

“…Residents receive variable amounts of formalized instruction pertaining to radiation oncology during medical school or internship. Formalized radiation oncology exposure during medical school has been successfully achieved with a structured didactic curriculum for the radiation oncology clerkship (16, 17, 19), existing core radiology clerkships (20), and second-year medical school curriculum (21). However, the results of our national survey demonstrated that many radiation oncology residents believe they are underprepared at the start of residency training, and program directors reported only moderate resident preparedness for clinical responsibilities before and after the introductory curricula currently in use.…”

<p>A Thorough Analysis of the Current State of Cancer Education in Medical Schools and Application of Experimental Teaching Techniques and Their Efficacy</p>

“…Hirsch et al showed significant improvement in pre-and post-test exam scores in radiation oncology, as well as breast, prostate, and general cancer management knowledge. [19][20][21] There was no significant improvement in cancer staging knowledge. 22 Qualitatively 88% of fourth year students reported motivation to learn more about radiation oncology and 83% reported a better understanding of cancer care after an increased number of lectures.…”

“…Out of the 28 papers written about Lecture and Small Group Discussions, 89.3% (25) stated that these methods had a positive impact and 10.7% (3) stated that there was a negative impact in comparison to other teaching methods. 21.4% (6) of these papers analyzed preexisting or experimental methods qualitatively, 71.4% (20) analyzed their data quantitatively, and 6.4% (2) used both forms of analysis.…”

Education in Radiation Oncology—Current Challenges and Difficulties

“…The decision to choose radiotherapy as a specialty in their medical career was more common among students who participated in a medical school program with more than 2 h of lectures. The authors mention the need to introduce the concepts of radiotherapy in the university curriculum for medical students, noting the potential benefit brought in choosing their future medical career [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”