Successful integration of radiation oncology in preclinical medical education

Oertel, Michael; Schmitz, Martina; Becker, Jan C.; Eich, Hans Theodor; Schober, Anna

doi:10.1007/s00066-019-01492-z

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Therefore, the evaluation of medical students is an important formative and summative assessment method as used in this analysis [ 22 ]. The integration of RO in preclinical education has been commented on [ 23 ]. Our preclinic evaluation showed a very good rating of our new digital patient cases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ learning behavior in digital education for radiation oncology

Vorwerk¹,

Engenhart‐Cabillic²

2021

Strahlenther Onkol

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Purpose Digitalization of medical education is an important trend in terms of reforming and modernizing the global education environment. It has been long requested by students and politicians. The goal of this study was to assess the student perception of a newly developed digital educational program in radiation oncology (RO) using an interactive e‑book combined with short learnings clips on a YouTube channel combined with periodic videoconferences and a forum for queries. Methods We performed five evaluations during and at the end of two terms with multiple-choice and free-text answers. We evaluated student perception of our new digital learning scenario in three semesters: one pre-clinical and two clinical semesters. In addition, we analyzed all comments from the kMED forum, the YouTube channel, or the e‑mail contacts. We analyzed the learning behavior of the students based on access to the videos and the number and quality of the reflective questions answered as well as the results of the final examinations. Results The students accepted the offer for asynchronous teaching and mainly learned on weekdays (74% of the videos), but also on weekends (23%) and less on public holidays (4%). The answer quality of the reflective questions was good with over 50% correct answers on the first attempt. Learning to be on one’s own authority was very difficult for the students, even in the last clinical semesters of the medical study. Without direct intervention by the teacher, access to the learning material by the students was limited and delayed. Therefore, voluntary interim tests were performed during the first analysis term, which led to an increased number of student accesses to the videos and higher number of answers. Nevertheless, in the first analysis term, the average results in the final exam of the students who did not perform the interim test were below average at 59.1%, and the students who performed the test had better results at 69.5% but this was also not satisfactory. In the second analysis term, we taught with the same digital teaching model but with an additional scheme for learning over the term, 2‑week compulsory intermediate tests, and frequent videoconferences to answer any questions. In this term, we measured a success rate of 93% in the final exam. All annotations were very positive regarding the new educational project. The evaluations showed high acceptance of the new education program. The students stated they would prefer the new education course to be continued in future. Conclusion Digital teaching methods make not only the type and quality of teaching transparent, but also the learning behavior of the students. Our analysis has shown that, in addition to the quality of the teaching, the clear structure and specification of the learning content per learning week as well as regular monitoring of what has been learned are of decisive importance for the learning success of the students.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ learning behavior in digital education for radiation oncology

Vorwerk¹,

Engenhart‐Cabillic²

2021

Strahlenther Onkol

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“…Overall, there is limited information published in the literature around interventions to improve medical student learning of RO either in Australasia or internationally. A German study 8 demonstrated success in integrating RO learning into the anatomy component of the preclinical curriculum, suggesting there can be mutual benefit in efficient utilisation of teaching resources across disciplines to meet learning outcomes for multiple aligned subject areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving medical student education in radiation oncology: Integrating and evaluating an experiential interdisciplinary workshop into the medical student curriculum

et al. 2022

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Introduction To evaluate a novel interactive educational workshop designed to improve medical student knowledge and awareness of radiation oncology (RO). Method A 2.5‐h pilot workshop in RO was introduced in 2018 for one teaching hospital cohort of postgraduate medical students. Students participated in a voluntary interactive programme of learning ‘stations’ situated in the RO department, introducing students to practical aspects of RO planning, delivery and patient care. Students were surveyed before and immediately after the workshop to assess their perceptions of its educational value and the impact on RO knowledge and awareness. Results Forty‐four of 51 students participated in the RO workshop with 44 students (100%) completing the preworkshop survey and 38 students completing postworkshop survey (86%). Twenty‐three of 44 students had prior RO teaching, and 11/23 students (48%) had received between 30 and 60 min of teaching with only 4/44 (9%) confident in their knowledge of RO. Following the workshop, 22/38 (58%) felt their knowledge now met expectations for their level of training. Preworkshop, objective RO knowledge was low, regarding optimal use of RT (25%) and bone pain response (41%) and improved to 100% and 86% respectively. Overall, feedback around workshop value was highly positive with regard to enjoyment (97%) and students commented on the enthusiasm and multidisciplinarity of teachers. Conclusion There remain large gaps in medical student knowledge and confidence in RO, and intervention is necessary to address these discrepancies. A novel interactive RO workshop for medical students has demonstrated improved awareness and knowledge with high levels of self‐reported learner satisfaction.

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“…Additionally, interdisciplinary formats, which cover different subjects and at the same time bridge clinical and undergraduate education, may gain even more importance in the future by providing an introductory multimodal overview [ 16 – 18 ]. A recently published example is the course “Anatomy and Imaging” at the University of Muenster transferring anatomy knowledge to its clinical application, like in RO [ 5 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there are common misbeliefs about RO and its treatment spectrum, which persist until the end of medical school [4], demanding an improvement in teaching. Innovative concepts such as internships or interdisciplinary classes could be of additional value [4,5], but are not obligatory across Germany. At the same time, the introduction of the new German National Competence-Based Learning Objectives Catalogue (NKLM) [6] calls for interdisciplinary and practice-orientated teaching formats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of teaching radiation oncology in Germany—where do we stand?

et al. 2020

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Purpose Medical students' knowledge of radiation oncology (RO) is of increasing importance with a rising prevalence of malignancies. However, RO teaching in medical schools is heterogeneous and has not been analyzed at a federal level yet. Therefore, the following survey aims to provide a national overview of RO teaching in Germany. Methods A questionnaire containing multiple-choice and free-text questions covering the extent and topics of RO teaching was sent to RO departments of all university hospitals in Germany and was answered by the heads of department/main lecturers. Results 24/35 (68.6%) RO departments returned completed forms. Most faculties employ lectures (91.7%), seminars (87.5%), and practical/bedside training (75.0%), whereas training in radiation biology and medical physics are rare (25% and 33.3%, respectively). Main topics covered are general RO (100%), radiation biology (91.7%), and side effects (87.5%). Regarding RO techniques and concepts, image-guided and intensity-modulated radiotherapy are taught at all faculties, followed by palliative and stereotactic techniques (87.5% each). Notably, all departments offered at least a partial rotation in RO in conjunction with radiology and/or nuclear medicine departments in the last year of medical school, while only 70.8% provided a complete rotation in RO. In addition, 57.1% of the departments have taken measures concerning the upcoming National Competence-Based Learning Objectives Catalogue (NKLM) for medical education. Conclusion RO plays an integral but underrepresented role in clinical medical education in Germany, but faces new challenges in the development of practical and competence-based education, which will require further innovative and interdisciplinary concepts.

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Successful integration of radiation oncology in preclinical medical education

Cited by 15 publications

References 25 publications

Students’ learning behavior in digital education for radiation oncology

Students’ learning behavior in digital education for radiation oncology

Improving medical student education in radiation oncology: Integrating and evaluating an experiential interdisciplinary workshop into the medical student curriculum

Quality of teaching radiation oncology in Germany—where do we stand?

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