Oncology Education in Canadian Undergraduate and Postgraduate Training Programs

Abstract

Oncology is underrepresented in current curriculums.

Oncology Education in Canadian Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Programs: A Survey of Educators and Learners

“…Our results confirm the findings of an earlier, smaller study of administrators in charge of Canadian undergraduate schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and postgraduate resident training programs 3 . The education leaders in that study also believed that the level of oncology education in their respective programs at that time was inadequate.…”

“…We were not able to obtain responses from educators and learners in all Canadian medical schools and residency training programs. Response rates from certain groups of educators and learners in the medical training programs that we were able to survey were lower than those in other studies 3,12 . Response rates from umeccms and oncologists were lower because we were not allowed to contact those groups directly and had to rely on a third party to forward the survey link and subsequent reminder message.…”

“…Medical students who go on to pursue careers in family medicine (fm) or internal medicine (im) will frequently be involved in the screening, diagnosis, and follow-up of cancer patients 2 . Despite those likely responsibilities, there is a deficiency of focused oncology teaching during medical school and fm and im training 3 . As a result, many medical students and residents have been found to lack the proper knowledge to assist patients in basic cancer prevention and detection even after completion of their training 4 .…”

An Oncology Pharmacy Practice Elective Course for Third-Year Pharmacy Students

“…9 Ten of 11 (90.9%) pharmacy colleges and schools responded, with 80% of pharmacy responders spending 1 week or less on cancer education. Only 30% of these institutions required cancer education, only 20% offered an elective course for cancer education, and 70% reported mentioning cancer treatment only a few times throughout their program.…”

Developing Canadian oncology education goals and objectives for medical students: a national modified Delphi study

“…2 Despite these responsibilities, studies have shown that there is a deficiency in focused oncology teaching during medical school in Canada and the United Kingdom and many other European countries. [3][4][5][6][7] Our recent national survey showed that most educators and learners believe oncology education in Canadian family medicine and internal medicine training programs at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels is inadequate. 4 When comparing the teaching of disease related to 10 different medical subspecialties, the educators and learners agreed that oncology was the most poorly taught to medical students.…”