Cancer education for the generalist physician.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The care of cancer patients has become increasingly complex and multidisciplinary while more responsibility for cancer care has been shifted to primary care physicians. We developed a medical student educational program to teachfuture primary care physicians about care of cancer patients. METHODS: The Multidisciplinary Oncology Clerkship was designed for fourth-year medical students planning to enter primary care residencies. The clerkship hasfive major components: ambulatory patient care, multidisciplinary conferences, skill stations, problem-based learning in small groups, and supervised objective structured clinical examinations. Learning during the clerkship was evaluated with knowledge tests before, immediately after, and 6 months after the clerkship. RESULTS: Twenty-four students participated in the first year of the clerkship. Program evaluation revealed that the students' scores on the knowledge test rose 40% between the pre-clerkship and post-clerkship tests. Retesting at 6 months demonstrated knowledge retention of 90%. CONCLUSIONS: Multidisciplinary cancer education, using the combination of problem-based learning, skill stations, clinical exposure, and standardized patients, increases the cancer-care knowledge of medical students dedicated to a career in primary care.