Radiation Oncology in the Core Clinical Medical School Curriculum: An Update on the Oncology Education Initiative

e19507 Background: Few medical students are given proper clinical training in oncology, much less radiation oncology. We evaluate the value of adding a radiation oncology clinical rotation to the medical school curriculum. Methods: In July 2010, Jefferson Medical College offered a 3-week radiation oncology elective rotation for third-year medical students during the core surgical clerkship. During 2010-2012, 52 students chose to enroll in this rotation. The rotation included outpatient clinics, inpatient consults, didactic sessions, and case-based presentations by the students. Tests of students’ knowledge of radiation oncology were administered anonymously before and after the rotation to evaluate the educational effectiveness of the rotation. Students and radiation oncology faculty were given surveys to assess feedback about the rotation. Results: The students’ pre-rotation test scores had an average of 64% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 61%, 66%), which improved after the rotation to 82% (95% CI: 80%, 83%; 18% absolute improvement). In exam question analysis, scores improved in clinical oncology from 63% to 79%, in radiobiology from 70% to 77%, and in medical physics from 62% to 88%. Improvements in all sections but radiobiology were statistically significant. Students rated the usefulness of the rotation as 8.1 (scale 1-9, 95% CI: 7.3, 9.0), their understanding of radiation oncology as a result of the rotation as 8.8 (95% CI: 8.5, 9.1), and their recommendation of the rotation to a classmate as 8.2 (95% CI: 7.6, 9.0). Radiation oncology faculty rated their belief that this rotation would be valuable to students as 8.2 (scale 1-9), that students had appropriate responsibilities in the clinic as 7.9, and that the lectures and meetings that students attended were at an appropriate level as 8.1. Conclusions: Integrating a radiation oncology clinical rotation into the medical school curriculum improves student knowledge of radiation oncology, including aspects of clinical oncology, radiobiology, and medical physics. The rotation is appreciated by both students and faculty. We recommend including exposure to radiation oncology as part of the core clinical curriculum for all medical students.

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The incorporation of global healthcare teaching into the core medical school curriculum

Tropical Doctor ◽

10.1177/00494755211034373 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 004947552110343

Author(s):

Sai Arathi Parepalli ◽

Archith Kamath ◽

Roba Khundkar

Keyword(s):

Medical School ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Medical School Curriculum ◽

The Core

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A developing medical school curriculum by the Learning Outcomes Framework

Korean Association For Learner-Centered Curriculum And Instruction ◽

10.22251/jlcci.2019.19.8.725 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (8) ◽

pp. 725-748

Author(s):

Janghee Park

Keyword(s):

Medical School ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Medical School Curriculum

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Building on Past Experience

10.1093/oso/9780199370818.003.0012 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

J. Donald Boudreau ◽

Eric J. Cassell ◽

Abraham Fuks

Keyword(s):

Medical School ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Past Experience ◽

Medical School Curriculum ◽

Learning Activities ◽

Dual Roles ◽

Medical Program ◽

Mcgill University ◽

Ongoing Development ◽

Renewal Project

This chapter serves to explain the link between a curricular renewal project that has already been completed and one that is envisaged as an aspirational goal and serves as the focus of the book. The Physicianship Curriculum has its origins in courses introduced in 1998 and that evolved over two decades in the undergraduate medical program at McGill University. The innovative modules and learning activities were initially rolled out under the ambit of two distinct conceptual streams: professionalism and healing in medicine. Ongoing development continued using “physicianship” as a new descriptive label. Physicianship refers to the dual roles of the physician: the physician as professional and as healer. The flagship course of the physicianship component of McGill’s medical school curriculum has been a 4-year longitudinal apprenticeship; it is described in detail.

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Culinary Medicine Training in Core Medical School Curriculum Improved Medical Student Nutrition Knowledge and Confidence in Providing Nutrition Counseling

American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine ◽

10.1177/15598276211021749 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 155982762110217

Author(s):

Christopher R. D’Adamo ◽

Kayli Workman ◽

Christine Barnabic ◽

Norman Retener ◽

Bernadette Siaton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Patient Care ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Nutrition Knowledge ◽

Medical School Curriculum ◽

Nutrition Counseling ◽

Patient Counseling ◽

Culinary Medicine

Background: Elective culinary medicine education has become popular to help fill important gaps in physician nutrition training. The implementation and outcomes among the inaugural cohort of medical students who received culinary medicine training as a required component of medical school curriculum at the University of Maryland School of Medicine are described. Methods: Following a series of elective pilot sessions, culinary medicine training was provided to all first-year medical students in the 2019-2020 academic year. The 3-hour training included evidence-based nutrition lecture, cooking simple recipes, and group discussion of the application to personal and patient care. Pre-/postsession questionnaires assessed nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes as well as nutritional counseling confidence. Paired t-tests estimated mean differences in outcomes pre- and posttraining. Qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis. Results: Overall, 119 of 125 (95.2%) students provided pre- and posttraining outcomes data. All nutritional and patient counseling outcomes improved ( P < .05). Themes of being better prepared to address healthy eating barriers in patient care and personal ability to make healthy dietary changes were noted in qualitative analysis. Conclusion: One session of culinary medicine training in core medical student curriculum was feasible and improved medical student nutrition knowledge, skills, and attitudes and confidence in patient nutrition counseling.

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Teaching Pathology in an Integrated Preclinical Medical School Curriculum and Adaptations to COVID-19 Restrictions

Academic Pathology ◽

10.1177/23742895211015337 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 237428952110153

Author(s):

Matthew D. Krasowski ◽

John L. Blau ◽

Stephanie J. Chen ◽

Karra A. Jones ◽

Thomas J. Schmidt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical School ◽

Small Groups ◽

Integrated Curriculum ◽

Sudden Change ◽

Health Professions ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Medical School Curriculum ◽

Professional Schools ◽

Large Group ◽

Virtual Instruction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on education at all age levels, including professional schools and health professions programs. We describe the experience of adapting preclinical medical school courses within an integrated curriculum to virtual instruction. A major feature of two of the courses were pathology small groups adapted from pathology courses in the previous medical school curriculum. These small groups were designed to use facilitated groups of 8 to 10 students. With a sudden change to virtual learning, these small groups were shifted to large group virtual sessions. In general, the conversion went well, with ongoing optimization of the format of the large group sessions mainly occurring over the first several sessions. End-of-course student evaluations were generally positive, but with a preference toward returning to live sessions in the future. Scores on 5 multiple choice examinations in the spring 2020 course were essentially identical in mean, standard deviation, and distribution to examinations in the previous 2 years of the course that had similar layout and topic organization. We discuss the challenges and successes of the switch to virtual instruction and of teaching pathology content within an integrated medical school curriculum.

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