Improving medical student education in radiation oncology: Integrating and evaluating an experiential interdisciplinary workshop into the medical student curriculum

Introduction To evaluate a novel interactive educational workshop designed to improve medical student knowledge and awareness of radiation oncology (RO). Method A 2.5-h pilot workshop in RO was introduced in 2018 for one teaching hospital cohort of postgraduate medical students. Students participated in a voluntary interactive programme of learning 'stations' situated in the RO department, introducing students to practical aspects of RO planning, delivery and patient care. Students were surveyed before and immediately after the workshop to assess their perceptions of its educational value and the impact on RO knowledge and awareness. Results Forty-four of 51 students participated in the RO workshop with 44 students (100%) completing the preworkshop survey and 38 students completing postworkshop survey (86%). Twenty-three of 44 students had prior RO teaching, and 11/23 students (48%) had received between 30 and 60 min of teaching with only 4/44 (9%) confident in their knowledge of RO. Following the workshop, 22/38 (58%) felt their knowledge now met expectations for their level of training. Preworkshop, objective RO knowledge was low, regarding optimal use of RT (25%) and bone pain response (41%) and improved to 100% and 86% respectively. Overall, feedback around workshop value was highly positive with regard to enjoyment (97%) and students commented on the enthusiasm and multidisciplinarity of teachers. Conclusion There remain large gaps in medical student knowledge and confidence in RO, and intervention is necessary to address these discrepancies. A novel interactive RO workshop for medical students has demonstrated improved awareness and knowledge with high levels of self-reported learner satisfaction.