Abstract

PURPOSE: We describe the implementation of a novel virtual educational program for medical students, Radiation Oncology Virtual Education Rotation (ROVER), and its impact on student interest and knowledge in radiation oncology.METHODS AND MATERIALS: ROVER comprised a series of virtual educational panels with case-based discussions across disease sites tailored to medical students. These were moderated by radiation oncology residents and included faculty panelists from academic radiation oncology programs across the country. Student pre- and post-session surveys were collected. Paired t-tests were used to compare the pre- and post-session assessment results.RESULTS: Six ROVER sessions were held from June 4, 2020 to August 20, 2020 with a total of 427 medical students registering for at least one session. Of these, 231 students attended at least one session, with 140 completing at least one post-session survey (60.6% response rate). Fourth-year medical students were the largest group represented among attendees (32.0%). Most attendees had exposure to radiation oncology (78.8%) prior to the sessions. Majority of students signed up for these sessions for education (90.6%). Some students signed up for the sessions to help with specialty selection (30.9%) and to network (30.4%). Medical students' understanding of the role of radiation oncology in each disease site (breast, sarcoma, central nervous system, pediatrics, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, gynecologic, lymphoma, lung, and head and neck) was improved by attending each session (pre- versus post-session, p <0.0001 for all disease sites). Over three-quarters of respondents stated they were considering applying or were likely to apply into radiation oncology both before and following the sessions.CONCLUSIONS: ROVER improved medical student perceived knowledge of radiation oncology across all disease sites covered. ROVER fulfills a need for a national medical student education platform for radiation oncology. Future work is warranted to augment virtual and open educational platforms to improve access to radiation oncology education.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.03.057

View details for PubMedID 33845145