Evidence table development as a novel teaching tool in cancer survivorship education.

Abstract

3 Background: We established a novel curriculum in Cancer Survivorship Education (CSE), as a collaborative effort between our accredited training programs in Hematology/Oncology and Radiation Oncology. The conceptual framework for all our coursework in cancer survivorship was grounded in the recommendations from the Institute of Medicine report from 2006. As a means of refining our CSE curriculum, we introduced Evidence Table (ET) development. ETs are formatted summaries of methods, data, and outcomes from related studies used to answer specific questions. ETs facilitate the development of recommendations and standards of care. ET development was proposed to enhance the CSE experience allowing trainees to: 1) understand data supporting survivorship recommendations, 2) practice grading the evidence, 3) become more critical in appraisal of published studies, and 4) discover areas where further research is needed to substantiate cancer survivorship care plans. Methods: A total of 19 trainees participated in academic year 2013-2014 and 18 trainees in 2014-2015. Trainees were required to define key questions pertaining to survivorship, probe the literature for available data addressing these questions, and develop ETs in which the evidence was then graded. To ascertain the value of this experience from the trainees’ perspectives, anonymous and voluntary pre- and post-Workshop surveys were administered. The course was modified after the first academic year based on results of a trainee feed-back. Results: Following course modification in 2014-2015, 92% of trainees responded that they used some of the learned course information in their clinics. This represents significant improvement from 45% the previous year (p = 0.02). Significant improvement was observed (from 18% to 67%) in the perception that the course influenced trainees' approach to the medical literature. Ninety-two percent responded that they learned more about survivorship as a result of the CSE Workshop. All trainees reported that, to some extent, CSE has helped to make them better oncologists. Conclusions: ET development is a feasible, meaningful, and novel approach to fostering independent learning in cancer survivorship.