Enhancing Understanding of Oncologic Topics: Evaluating the Impact of Preclinical Medical Student Journal Clubs
There is limited data investigating the efficacy of journal clubs in enhancing student performance in evaluating literature in the field of oncology. In this project, we hosted a series of journal clubs to improve preclinical (first- and second-year) medical students' perceived understanding of...
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| Published in: | International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics Vol. 119; no. 4; p. e5 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier Inc
15-07-2024
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | There is limited data investigating the efficacy of journal clubs in enhancing student performance in evaluating literature in the field of oncology. In this project, we hosted a series of journal clubs to improve preclinical (first- and second-year) medical students' perceived understanding of fundamental topics in oncology. This project investigated students' baseline oncologic knowledge levels, adoption and retention rates, and critical components of improving journal club utility and experience through facilitator and student feedback. We hypothesized attending journal clubs would increase students' perceived knowledge concerning oncology and their ability to read journal articles.
This IRB-exempt study consisted of a one-hour journal club session, where a physician reviewed a research article and explained the scientific analysis process. Participants were pre-clinical medical students from the USF Morsani College of Medicine. Pre- and post-session questionnaires, including Likert scale questions (ratings 1-5) and short-answer responses, assessed medical student perceptions, level of experience, and willingness to engage in journal clubs. Questionnaire responses were collected via Survey Monkey on personal devices. Data analysis encompassed measures of central tendency, including means or medians, ranges, distributions for continuous variables, percent/probabilities, and confidence intervals for categorical variables.
In the first of five sessions, six M1s and M2s completed the pre- and post-journal club surveys. Students were primarily motivated to attend because of a desire to learn oncologic topics, interact with oncology faculty, and obtain catered food. 66% of attendees felt like they were only "slightly prepared" to read medical literature; half felt they were "not knowledgeable" or "slightly knowledgeable" regarding oncologic topics. After attending, all students were "moderately" or "very satisfied" with the session. All felt the session was "moderately" or "very useful" in increasing their knowledge of oncology, and 66% felt their ability to critically appraise articles was increased. All attendees stated they were either "moderately" or "very likely" to attend future sessions. We plan to hold four more sessions to determine the retention rate of students over time.
We found that medical students learning in journal club settings may allow for increased confidence and ability to understand higher-level oncology research. Although in this first session, technical difficulties detracted from the experience, we plan to improve upon future in-person and online sessions. Most students agreed that this session was moderately helpful. Incorporating student feedback, we hope to increase engagement with oncology and medical student learning with journal clubs. |
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| ISSN: | 0360-3016 1879-355X |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.04.035 |