Oncology and Radiation Oncology Awareness in Final Year Medical Students in Australia and New Zealand

This study aimed to determine final year students ’ core oncology and radiation oncology knowledge and attitudes about the quality of teaching in medical programmes delivered in Australia and New Zealand. Does the modern medical programme provide core oncology skills in this leading global cause of mortality and morbidity? An online survey was di stributed between April and June 2018 and completed by 316 final year students across all 21 medical schools with final year cohorts in Australia and New Zealand. The survey examined teaching and clinical exposure, attitudes and core knowledge for oncology and radiation oncology. Several questions f rom a survey done of graduates in 2001 were repeated for comparison. We found that clinical exposure to oncology and its disciplines is low. Students rated oncology and haematology the worst taught medical specialties at medical school. Students reported the most confidence identifying when surgical management of cancer may be indicated and much lower levels of confidence identifying when systemic therapy and radiation therapy may be helpful. The majority of students had no formal course content on radiation therapy and more than one third of final year students erroneously believed that exter nal beam radiation therapy turned patients radioactive. Exposure to oncology practice and the teaching of core oncology knowledge remains low for medical students in Australia and New Zealand. Many areas of oncology teaching and knowledge have wor...
Source: Journal of Cancer Education - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research