J Gen Intern Med. 2009 Nov;24 Suppl 2:S491-4. doi: 10.1007/s11606-009-1024-7.

A framework for developing, implementing, and evaluating a cancer survivorship curriculum for medical students.

Uijtdehaage S, Hauer KE, Stuber M, Rajagopalan S, Go VL, Wilkerson L.

Source

Center for Education Development and Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, 60-051 Center for the Health Sciences, Box 951722, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. bas@mednet.ucla.edu

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Cancer survivorship care is not adequately addressed in current medical school curricula.

OBJECTIVES:

To develop, implement, and evaluate a modular cancer survivorship curriculum that is portable to other educational settings and is designed to provide medical students with a foundation of knowledge, attitudes, and skills related to care for cancer survivors.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

An expert consensus panel developed a set of learning objectives related to cancer survivorship to guide the development of educational modules, such as computer-based self-instructional modules, problem-based learning cases, videos, and clinical exercises. Course and clerkship chairs were directly involved in the development and implementation of the modules.

EVALUATION:

A cohort study with a historical control group demonstrated that fourth-year medical students increased their knowledge in survivorship issues and their self-reported level of comfort in care activities compared to similar students who did not receive the survivorship curriculum.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our framework resulted in a cancer survivorship curriculum that was implemented in a modular manner across the medical curriculum that improved learning and that is potentially portable to other educational settings.