SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Re-Prioritizing Learning on an Inpatient Medical Oncology Service

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This project addressed the challenge of limited and difficult-to-prioritize learning on an inpatient medical oncology rotation, where most care involves medical complications and goals-of-care discussions rather than broad cancer management. At the University of Vermont, educators implemented a standardized weekly, case-based 30-minute teaching session for internal medicine residents. Topics were selected from ABIM requirements and clinically important areas, beginning with oncologic emergencies and later intended to expand to solid tumors.<br /><br />Residents completed surveys before the intervention, again six months later, and also provided brief weekly feedback during their rotation. Forty-two residents completed the baseline survey and 20 completed the six-month follow-up survey.<br /><br />The intervention improved resident knowledge of oncologic emergencies over time, with gains seen in areas such as tumor lysis syndrome, neutropenic fever, hypercalcemia, and neoplastic CNS complications. However, no statistically significant improvement was seen for solid tumor topics, which was expected because those topics had not yet been formally introduced during the study period. Residents consistently rated the teaching sessions as valuable.<br /><br />The main conclusion was that structured, dedicated teaching can be successfully incorporated into a busy inpatient oncology service without interfering with clinical responsibilities. The approach was well received by both residents and attending physicians. Key barriers included limited time and variation in teaching style among faculty.<br /><br />The team is now expanding the model to include case-based teaching on solid tumors to broaden resident exposure and improve learning across a wider range of oncology topics.

Asset Subtitle

Georgia M. Farrell

Meta Tag

Author List Aaron Levit, Georgia M. Farrell, Juvena R. Hitt, Maura Barry, Naomi Hodde, Ryan Thomas, Sienna Searles

Category Research

Concept Inpatient Oncology

Concept Oncologic Emergency

Concept Internal Medicine Resident

Concept Case-based learning

Concept Teaching Intervention

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of Vermont

Presenting Author Georgia M. Farrell

Track Education

Keywords

inpatient oncology rotation

medical oncology

resident education

case-based teaching

oncologic emergencies

tumor lysis syndrome

neutropenic fever

hypercalcemia

goals-of-care discussions

solid tumors

Inpatient Oncology

Oncologic Emergency

Internal Medicine Resident

Case-based learning

Teaching Intervention