Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to determine the current state of oncology education in Canadian family medicine postgraduate medical education programs (FM PGME) and examine opinions regarding optimal oncology education in these programs.MethodsA survey was designed to evaluate ideal and current oncology teaching, educational topics, objectives, and competencies in FM PGMEs. The survey was sent to Canadian family medicine (FM) residents and program directors (PDs).ResultsIn total, 150 residents and 17 PDs affiliated with 16 of 17 Canadian medical schools completed the survey. The majority indicated their programs do not have a mandatory clinical rotation in oncology (79% residents, 88% PDs). Low rates of residents (7%) and PDs (13%) reported FM residents being adequately prepared for their role in caring for cancer patients (p = 0.03). Residents and PDs believed the most optimal method of teaching oncology is through clinical exposure (65% residents, 80% PDs). Residents and PDs agreed the most important topics to learn (rated ≥4.7 on 5-point Likert scale) were: performing pap smears, cancer screening/prevention, breaking bad news, and approach to patient with increased cancer risk. According to residents, other important topics such as appropriate cancer patient referrals, managing cancer complications and post-treatment surveillance were only taught at frequencies of 52, 40 and 36%, respectively.ConclusionsCurrent FM PGME oncology education is suboptimal, although the degree differs in the opinion of residents and PDs. This study identified topics and methods of education which could be focussed upon to improve FM oncology education.
Highlights
This study aimed to determine the current state of oncology education in Canadian family medicine postgraduate medical education programs (FM PGME) and examine opinions regarding optimal oncology education in these programs
The main result of our study is consistent with previous studies, which have shown that oncology education in non-oncology medical training programs is thought to be suboptimal by the majority of FM residents and program directors (PDs) [4, 5]
The previous study found that there was broad support for a standard set of oncology objectives among FM PDs and FM residents (71 and 93%, respectively) [5]. This current study shows continued support for the development of oncology education competencies, which would help inform the FM training programs and the FM residents of the essential oncology topics and experiences to be learned during residency training
Summary
This study aimed to determine the current state of oncology education in Canadian family medicine postgraduate medical education programs (FM PGME) and examine opinions regarding optimal oncology education in these programs. Despite the growing need for cancer care in family practice, there is little focused oncology teaching in undergraduate medical education and postgraduate family medicine (FM) residency training in Canada [4, 5]. Cancer education was thought to be inadequate in their training program by 57% of FM residents [5] These residents believed that cancer is the least adequately taught subject compared to all other medical subspecialty-related diseases [5]. None of these training programs had a mandatory oncology rotation or a formal oncology curriculum, but 2 programs did report having oncology objectives for their residents [5]
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