title: Cancer skills laboratories for medical students: a promising approach for cancer education.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most medical students graduate without the skills necessary to assist patients in cancer control. To address this problem, the authors developed a cancer skills laboratory for second-year medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  The skills laboratory consists of two hours of training, with 15 minutes allotted per station (six to eight students assigned per station). Faculty and fellows lead the stations on prostate cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, skin cancer, counseling for smoking cessation, and a discussion of anti-tobacco advertisements. Students completed pre- and post-laboratory surveys consisting of ten brief questions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 94% of eligible students in 1997 and 1998 completed the surveys. Using a five-point scale, self-rated skill level increased from 2.12 to 3.83 when all modalities were averaged (p < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cancer skills laboratories are a promising new means for cancer education.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, MA 02118, USA. ageller@bu.edu
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Prout
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krane
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Schroy
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Demierre
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Benjes
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abd-El-Baki
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mozden
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stanfield
mesh_terms: D001900:Boston; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000193:education*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D015397:Program Evaluation; D016540:Smoking Cessation