Dataset Information

A Nationwide Medical Student Assessment of Oncology Education.

ABSTRACT: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the USA, but there is minimal data on how oncology is taught to medical students. The purpose of this study is to characterize oncology education at US medical schools. An electronic survey was sent between December 2014 and February 2015 to a convenience sample of medical students who either attended the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting or serve as delegates to the American Association of Medical Colleges. Information on various aspects of oncology instruction at participants' medical schools was collected. Seventy-six responses from students in 28 states were received. Among the six most common causes of death in the USA, cancer reportedly received the fourth most curricular time. During the first, second, and third years of medical school, participants most commonly reported 6-10, 16-20, and 6-10 h of oncology teaching, respectively. Participants were less confident in their understanding of cancer treatment than workup/diagnosis or basic science/natural history of cancer (p < 0.01). During the preclinical years, pathologists, scientists/Ph.D.'s, and medical oncologists reportedly performed the majority of teaching, whereas during the clinical clerkships, medical and surgical oncologists reportedly performed the majority of teaching. Radiation oncologists were significantly less involved during both periods (p < 0.01). Most schools did not require any oncology-oriented clerkship. During each mandatory rotation, <20 % of patients had a primary diagnosis of cancer. Oncology education is often underemphasized and fragmented with wide variability in content and structure between medical schools, suggesting a need for reform.

SUBMITTER: Mattes MD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5533172 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A Nationwide Medical Student Assessment of Oncology Education.

Mattes Malcolm D MD Patel Krishnan R KR Burt Lindsay M LM Hirsch Ariel E AE

Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education 20161201 4

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the USA, but there is minimal data on how oncology is taught to medical students. The purpose of this study is to characterize oncology education at US medical schools. An electronic survey was sent between December 2014 and February 2015 to a convenience sample of medical students who either attended the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting or serve as delegates to the American Association of Medical Colleges. Information on vario ...[more]

PMID: 26123764

Similar Datasets

Project description:PurposeMentored medical student (MS) research opportunities in radiation oncology (RO) provide in-depth exposure to the specialty and may promote greater interest in a career in RO. Many radiation oncologists conduct research; however, the extent to which they directly engage MSs in their research is unknown. The purpose of this study was to characterize MS authorship in American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) journals.Methods and materialsThe byline and abstract of all scientific articles (ie, clinical, basic science, training/education) and case reports published from 2019 to 2021 in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics; Practical Radiation Oncology; and Advances in Radiation Oncology were reviewed. Characteristics of MSs and senior authors are reported.ResultsA total of 105 of 1785 articles (5.8%) included an MS author, among which 72 (68.6%) were clinical, 13 training/education (12.4%), 12 case reports (11.4%), and 8 basic science (7.6%). MS authors were more common for publications in Advances in Radiation Oncology (9.0%) than Practical Radiation Oncology (6.4%) or the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics (4.2%; P = .002). There were 125 unique MS authors from 72 institutions, among which 40 were first author (32.0%), 28 second author (22.4%), and 57 third (or higher) author (45.6%). There were 88 unique senior authors from 55 institutions, among which 10 (11.3%) were on 2 or more MS publications, and 57 (64.7%) shared the same institution as the MS. The median number of articles per mentor institution was 1 (interquartile range, 1-2), and the mentor institutions in the upper quartile in terms of number of MS publications accounted for 53 (50.5%) of all MS publications.ConclusionsFew publications in American Society for Radiation Oncology journals include MS authors with mentorship disproportionately from a small number of academic faculty at select institutions. These findings suggest that there is great potential for radiation oncologists to proactively engage more students in their work.

Project description:IntroductionGood handoffs require teamwork, clear communication, a cognitively safe environment, and a good understanding of the patient's medical needs. Complex tertiary care training institutions require multiple handoffs over a patient's time in the hospital. Medical students need better handoff education. We designed a handoff training exercise using a simulated patient care environment for students to practice and observe multiple handoffs over time.MethodsAn initial large-group didactic session provides direct instruction on handoffs. In small groups, students are subsequently assigned roles as individual physicians in a chain of providers during a simulated patient hospitalization over several days, with an additional student as an observer. Blinded to any prior discussion, student physicians sequentially give and receive handoffs about the patient from a previous physician as their simulated hospital course evolves. The observer shares his or her insights, and a large-group structured debriefing exercise follows.ResultsIn both 2015 and 2016, we implemented this session with a cohort of 30 fourth-year medical students. Most recently we implemented this with chief residents, and a group of 20 third-year pediatric clerkship students. We reviewed a selection of the discussion guides and found reporters/ observers noted that participants stated the primary problem 95% of the time (19 of 20 handoffs), the patient acuity 90% of the time (18 of 20 handoffs), and a clear contingency plan 85% of the time (17 of 20 handoffs).DiscussionWe found students initially to be preoccupied with making correct clinical decisions instead of giving effective handoffs, and consequently we clarified details and adjusted clinical information to be more transparent. Results suggest the session achieves our goals of using a structured handoff method to communicate higher-level information and debrief effectively with peers. We envision this activity to be applicable to teaching handoffs to residents, nurses, and other health care professionals, as well as possibly in diverse clinical environments or in collaboration with outpatient providers.

Project description:BackgroundInterprofessional education (IPE) is defined as students from two or more professions learning together to collaborate and advance health outcomes and is a required component of osteopathic medical education. Factors that influence osteopathic medical students' (OMS) interprofessional attitudes are currently unknown. This study sought to examine differences in interprofessional attitudes after completing an IPE didactic curriculum and identify specific student or curricular factors correlated with higher interprofessional attitudes.MethodsThis study utilized a two-phase longitudinal approach. During phase one, a pre/post survey was disseminated to OMS before and after exposure to a standardized IPE didactic curriculum. The survey collected demographic information, previous interprofessional exposures, and baseline interprofessional attitudes using the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS). A Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to assess differences in pre/post IPAS scores. For phase two of the study, the survey was additionally disseminated to second, third-, and fourth-year OMS at the end of each academic year to identify student factors associated with higher interprofessional attitudes, including specialty interest and type of core rotation site for third year clinical clerkships and analyzed using a Kruskal Wallis test.ResultsOver two years, 628 OMS responded to the survey, with 585 providing sufficient information to calculate IPAS scores. Of these 585, responses were from 267 first, 133 second, 84 third, and 65 fourth year students (36 missing). For phase one, 74 of the 267 survey responders completed both the pre and post survey. There was no significant change in IPAS scores following participation in the IPE curriculum (mean change ± standard deviation - 2.22 ± 8.89; p = 0.13). For phase two, an overall decline in interprofessional attitudes was observed as students progressed through each year of academic training. Factors associated with statistically higher IPAS scores (p < 0.05) included age of 18-25, earlier point in academic curriculum (first year student) and completing clerkships at a non-academic core rotation site.ConclusionsDespite curricular programming aimed at enhancing interprofessional competencies, it appears non-curricular factors may play a role in interprofessional attitudes. Examination of additional student factors and enhancement of longitudinal IPE programming across all four medical curricular years should be considered.

Project description:BackgroundThe global prevalence of autism is reported to be at least 1% and is rising. Autistic people have a range of comorbidities resulting in a high use of health services. Doctors of nearly all specialties are likely to encounter autistic people in their practice. Autistic people report dissatisfactory care and encounter disproportionately worse health-related outcomes than non-autistic people, which in part has been attributed to a lack of skill and awareness in the medical workforce. At present, autism education is not always included in undergraduate medical curricula. In England, the Department of Health and Social Care has mandated that autism education should be included in all undergraduate medical curricula but current evidence relating to the delivery and receipt of autism education is poor. A greater understanding of medical student perceptions of autism education is required to inform curriculum development. This qualitative study sought to explore the perceptions of autism education in final year medical students at a medical school in South-East England by 1) assessing their perceived preparedness to care for autistic people once they have graduated from medical school and 2) determining their perceived acceptability of a new undergraduate education programme, Time for Autism (TfA).Materials and methodsA purposeful sample of ten final-year medical students were recruited. Students completed in-depth, individual interviews. Data was analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsFour key themes were identified: Learning environment, Exposure, Relevance and Curricular priority. The findings of this study indicate that medical students perceived greatest value in autism education when it was directly relevant to developing preparedness for practice. Value was influenced by the perceived curricular priority attached to autism education. The new autism programme, Time for Autism was perceived to add relevance and priority to autism education in the existing curriculum in this medical school setting.DiscussionThe study findings shed new light on medical education literature, emphasising the importance of congruence between the provision of autism education and the prioritisation of autism education within the curriculum. Consideration of relevance and curricular priority can be used to support the development of autism education in future medical curricula.

Dataset Information

A Nationwide Medical Student Assessment of Oncology Education.

Publications

A Nationwide Medical Student Assessment of Oncology Education.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets