Increasing Undergraduate Exposure to Oncology: the Role of Oncology Interest Groups

This study describes a medical school oncology interest group (OIG) and assesses its influence on student perceptions of oncology, interest in pursuing oncology as a career, and comfort levels with oncology topics such as breaking bad news. From 2015 to 2017, the OIG annual event took place at a satellite campus of a larger Canadian undergraduate medical school. The event provided a question and answer period with a panel of physicians from multiple oncology specialties —discussions focused around lifestyle, training, clinical work, lifestyle, and career focus. Small physician-led groups taught breaking bad news using the SPIKES framework. The interest group also provided a mentoring and networking opportunity to interested students. Pre- and post-event surveys w ere distributed to students and physicians. For three consecutive years, the student-run, and physician-mentored OIG successfully recruited student and physician participants, providing a clinical skill teaching session as well as mentorship opportunities to students. Pre-event surveys found that on ly 20% of students believed their current curriculum was adequate as it relates to oncology education. In pre-session, 13% (6/45) of students indicated comfort with the skill of breaking bad news, compared with that in post-session with 81% (34/42) of students feeling comfortable. When asked “How likely are you to pursue a future elective opportunity in oncology?” 49% (20/41) of students indicated “likely” as th...
Source: Journal of Cancer Education - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research