title: Cancer education for the generalist physician.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors.affiliation: Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA. judy.smith@roswellpark.org
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003479:Curriculum; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology; D015397:Program Evaluation