Improving Skin Cancer Prevention and Detection Education in US Medical Schools

The eDerm online curriculum: A randomized study of effective skin cancer teaching to medical students

“…The first 38 students in each group were included in the analysis for a balanced design (Fig 1). The most common self-reported anticipated medical specialties (n) were as follows: dermatology (61), internal medicine (46), undecided/undeclared (30), pediatrics (22), family practice/primary car (16), obstetrics/gynecology (11), emergency medicine (7), ophthalmology (6), and psychiatry (5). A total of 142 participants reported having any dermatology experience with a binary ''yes'': 70 in arm 1 and 72 in arm 2 (Fisher exact test; P = .89).…”

“…16,18 Students judged teaching methods as most effective when they were visual and interactive, suggesting that these attributes are critical to learning dermatology. 20,21 Specifically, students have stressed the importance of interactive teaching in improving skin cancer education in US medical schools, 22 and strongly support the development of teaching resources on the World Wide Web for learning dermatology. 23 There have been several studies evaluating the efficacy of teaching skin cancer recognition and management to physicians and medical students via the Internet.…”

One-Year Follow-Up of Dermoscopy Education on the Ability of Medical Students to Detect Skin Cancer

“…In fact, it has been shown that a third-year students' self-assessment of competence in certain common bedside procedures - such as performing venipuncture, obtaining blood cultures and inserting a nasogastric tube - is not surprisingly correlated with frequency of performance [12]. Brandling-Bennett et al [13] solicited students' perceptions of skin cancer education and asked how their dermatology education could be best improved. More clinical exposure and skill development with an emphasis on repetition were the most common responses.…”

Learning Through Service: Student Perceptions on Volunteering at Interprofessional Hepatitis B Student-run Clinics

“…In comparing elective students who volunteered at SRCs versus those who did not, there was a statistically significant difference in students’ self-reported confidence in clinical and professional skills, which corroborates with the finding that SRC participants gain valuable practical and hands-on experiences. However, while SRC participants had higher confidence in these domains than those who did not participate, the level of confidence was not high, suggesting that although direct patient care experiences were important in improving students’ confidence in their clinical skills, preclinical experience is still limited and students at all levels need iterative clinical opportunities to gain greater confidence [26, 27]. …”