Early introduction to clinical radiation oncology through a self-directed competency-based medical student curriculum.

Abstract

11038 Background: Specialty training is not traditionally incorporated into standard medical education and there is a deficiency in exposure to Radiation Oncology for “last minute” interested candidates, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds. Therefore, we implemented MERAO-200, an introductory 2-week in-person and virtual medical education curriculum without clinical prerequisites to facilitate early introduction to the field of Radiation Oncology and report its effect on student comfort and familiarity with radiation planning and contouring. Methods: Clinical students were enrolled in a 2-week elective without clinical prerequisites that integrated both clinical activities and self-directed learning through virtual contouring modules. The virtual curriculum was designed around three modules available on EduCase. A survey was conducted after completion of the modules that solicited self-identifying information and to assess their efficacy in increasing understanding of basic contouring skills. Paired t-tests were used to compare pre- and post-elective assessment results. Results: Twenty-three total students have completed MERAO-200 from Fall 2020 to Spring 2023. Of those, 15 submitted the survey. Eight (53%) students did not answer self-identifying information such as gender, race, ethnicity, or country of origin. Four (27%) students identified as Asian and 3 (20%) as white. No students identified as Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. Seven (46%) students identified as having USA as country of origin. Seven (47%) students reported interest in radiation oncology, medical oncology or surgical oncology. Three (20%) students were MS2, 7 (47%) were MS3, and 5 (33%) were MS4. Overall, there was a significant increase in comfort level using radiation planning software (p = 1.1e-4) as well as ability to find relevant contouring references (p = 4.2e-5). Knowledge of the anatomy and contouring principles also improved for the three modules: eye and brain (p = 2.8e-7), high grade glioma (3.2e-6), and head and neck nodal stations (4.5e-6). CNS module difficulty on a scale of 1-10 had a median difficulty score of 7 (range 3-8) and head and neck module difficulty was a median of 7 (range 3-10). Conclusions: Implementation of MERAO-200 improved medical student exposure to the field of Radiation Oncology and improved medical student comfort and familiarity with radiation planning and across all disease sites covered. More outreach work needs to be done to facilitate inclusion of minority student populations and students from underrepresented backgrounds. Early introduction at the medical student level could be a pathway to improve disparity in the field of Radiation Oncology.