Hemato-oncological outpatient care in medical education: a German pilot-project

TL;DR

This study explores how teaching medical students in outpatient cancer care improves their understanding and interest in hemato-oncology.

Contribution

The study introduces a new teaching format combining online and practical outpatient training in hemato-oncology for medical students.

Findings

Students rated online seminars and clerkships highly, with a mean score of 1.2 for overall evaluation.

90% of students reported improved understanding of outpatient practice after one-day bedside teaching.

The program generated interest in oncology, with students pursuing internships and mentorships in the field.

Abstract

To describe the experience of online and practical medical teaching in the outpatient hemato-oncological primary care setting and to analyze challenges and chances for students and teachers in specialized outpatient institutions.

The study involving medical students of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in their 6th–7th semester evaluates content and didactic methodology of online teaching seminars, bed-side clerkships and mentoring regarding one selected oncological center. The data was collected via questionnaires using Likert-scaled items.

In one outpatient cancer center a total of 279 students attended the online lessons (2020–2023). 102 evaluations were collected, and all aspects of teaching of the online seminars and clerkship were rated very well (mean score of 1.2 on the item “overall evaluation” with a small range of 1.0–1.3, n = 102). Criticism was mainly leveled at technical issues (n = 16). The evaluations (n = 10) of the students attending a one-day bed side teaching revealed high interest in learning the practice in the outpatient setting. 90% stated an improvement in understanding of outpatient practice as well as intersectoral processes due to the one-day bedside teaching and favored an integration of this new teaching format into the regular medical curriculum. Two students applied for a four-week internship and six chose a mentorship in hematology-oncology, resulting in four medical thesis projects in this field.

Increased participation of outpatient centers in medical education improved knowledge on outpatient medicine and interprofessional care and generated interest in the field of oncology. Outpatient cancer specialists should be more involved in the curriculum of medical students.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-025-06198-7.

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