Assessment of Approaches Promoting Virtual Radiation Oncology Educational Content to Medical Students

IF 2.2 Q3 ONCOLOGY

Advances in Radiation Oncology Pub Date : 2025-02-02 DOI:10.1016/j.adro.2025.101734

Malcolm D. Mattes MD , Erin A. Kaya MD , Rehema J. Thomas MD , Avinash R. Chaurasia MD , Sara E. Beltran Ponce MD , Gabriel Vidal MD , Idalid Franco MD, MPH , John M. Longo MD , Dayssy A. Diaz Pardo MD , Raymond B. Mailhot Vega MD, MPH , Pranshu Mohindra MD, MBBS , Roberto Diaz MD, PhD , Shilpen Patel MD , Curtiland Deville Jr MD

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose

Virtual learning in radiation oncology (RO) has potential to reach medical students who otherwise lack access to RO exposure or mentorship at their school. This study characterized the relative effectiveness of different methods of promoting virtual education content, to inform future efforts to expand access to RO education.

Methods and Materials

A 4-part “Oncology Virtual Series for Medical Students” was developed to emulate an oncology interest group (OIG). All academic RO department chairs and residency program directors were asked to engage their respective Dean's office or OIG to promote to all students, especially groups with primarily underrepresented in medicine membership. Promotional emails were also sent to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office of all allopathic United States (US) medical schools, and Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) regional directors. The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) promoted via ASTROgram, social media, and ROhub. Descriptive statistics are reported.

Results

A total of 660 students preregistered, and 140 attended, at least 1 session. Attendees represented 53 allopathic and 2 osteopathic US medical schools, and 18 international schools. One hundred six attendees (87%) were from schools with an affiliated RO department, and 79 (65%) with an affiliated RO residency. Fifteen schools had at least 3 students attend, with the highest number of attendees from the principal investigator's home institution (n = 10). These 15 schools accounted for 52% of all attendees, of which 10 had an affiliated RO residency. Two hundred eighty of six hundred sixty preregistered students (42%) described how they heard about the series: 87 (31%) medical school faculty, 75 (27%) social media post or email, 53 (19%) OIG, 16 (6%) SNMA or LMSA, and 15 (5%) ASTRO.

Conclusions

Disproportionately high attendance was from a few schools, suggesting that radiation oncologists’ individual efforts and pre-existing relationships with students, Dean's offices, and student groups are most effective for promoting nationwide virtual RO education.

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来源期刊

Advances in Radiation Oncology Medicine-Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

4.30%

发文量

208

审稿时长

98 days

期刊介绍： The purpose of Advances is to provide information for clinicians who use radiation therapy by publishing: Clinical trial reports and reanalyses. Basic science original reports. Manuscripts examining health services research, comparative and cost effectiveness research, and systematic reviews. Case reports documenting unusual problems and solutions. High quality multi and single institutional series, as well as other novel retrospective hypothesis generating series. Timely critical reviews on important topics in radiation oncology, such as side effects. Articles reporting the natural history of disease and patterns of failure, particularly as they relate to treatment volume delineation. Articles on safety and quality in radiation therapy. Essays on clinical experience. Articles on practice transformation in radiation oncology, in particular: Aspects of health policy that may impact the future practice of radiation oncology. How information technology, such as data analytics and systems innovations, will change radiation oncology practice. Articles on imaging as they relate to radiation therapy treatment.