Radiation Oncology Education Lax in Undergraduate Medical Education

A recent literature review of published articles that pertain to radiation oncology in undergraduate medical education found only one study out of 640 that had presented an extensive curriculum, according to the study published in the March 1, 2010, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology • Physics.

Authors Kristopher Dennis, M.D., and Graeme Duncan, M.D., searched for studies dated from 1998 to 2009 that contained “significant information pertaining to teaching radiation oncology to medical undergraduates.” They discovered only seven that contained what they considered relevant information. The study on a curriculum for radiation oncology included teaching objectives and sample student evaluations; two articles described how to integrate radiation oncology teaching into a radiology rotation; two covered anatomy-based courses related to tumor biology and radiation therapy planning; one addressed testing clinical reasoning skills in radiation oncology; and the last concerned a Web curriculum on physics.

The authors decried the lack of education in radiation oncology as evidenced by the paucity of articles on the subject. “Teaching radiation oncology should begin early in the undergraduate process, should be mandatory for all students, and should impart knowledge relevant to future general practitioners rather than detailed information relevant only to oncologists,” they concluded.

They also emphasized that educators should use available model curricula and integrate radiation oncology teaching into existing curricula, “or construct stand-alone oncology rotations where the principles of radiation oncology can be conveyed.”