Abstract
—Background. Despite recent advances in cancer survivorship knowledge and care, most medical schools lack a comprehensive survivorship curriculum, potentially leaving students ill-prepared for caring of survivors. Methods. A total of 211 students and 22 oncology fellows in 3 institutions completed a questionnaire assessing knowledge and experience in survivorship care. Results. Medical students and oncology fellows lack knowledge in key survivorship issues. Students were exposed to cancer survivors frequently in medical school but only half received instruction or practiced critical components of survivorship care. Conclusions. Improvement of both undergraduate and postgraduate training in survivorship care is urgently warranted.
Supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, R25 CA096075, 2002-2007 (Principal Investigator: LuAnn Wilkerson).
Presented in part during the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Education, San Diego, October, 12-14, 2006.