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© 2001 American Society for Clinical Oncology
An Online Educational Facility for Medical Oncology Trainees: www.vmotg.orgFrom the Victorian Medical Oncology Trainees’ Group, Melbourne; Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, East Melbourne; and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Address reprint requests to Michael Jefford, MBBS, FRACP, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 Australia; email: michael.jefford{at}ludwig.edu.au
PURPOSE: To design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive educational Web site for medical oncology trainees. METHODS: The Web site was designed with three main areas (termed Journal Club, Key Papers, and Oncology Links) and compiled from articles presented at the Victorian Medical Oncology Trainees’ Group journal club from the preceding 3 years. The Key Papers section was then reviewed by 30 academic medical oncologists. The site was advertised by mail and at the Annual Meeting of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia. Evaluation was by mail survey. RESULTS: The Web site, which may be accessed at www.vmotg.org, comprises more than 170 pages and 30,000 words of text. Journal club sessions are summarized with presented articles linked to abstracts from PubMed. Key Papers lists from five to 25 pivotal articles in each of 35 categories. Oncology Links is an extensive list of links in 10 categories including organizations, journals, and practice guidelines. Twenty-six of 45 trainees and 82 of 190 oncologists responded to the survey. Eighty-one percent of these trainees and 28% of oncologists have used the Web site. Ninety-six percent consider the Web site easy to use and "a useful medical oncology resource." All trainees rated the site good to excellent in terms of relevance and 94% considered the site beneficial to their education. CONCLUSION: The Web site www.vmotg.org is a relevant and useful educational resource for Australian medical oncology trainees and oncologists. As far as the authors are aware, this is the only educational site specifically for medical oncology trainees throughout the world. It may be a valuable oncology education resource for trainees in other countries, particularly those in isolated areas.
IN AUSTRALIA, 3 years of advanced training in medical oncology (preceded by 3 years of general physician training) is a prerequisite for subspecialty certification by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Although there are defined general principles of training, there is neither formal curriculum nor an exit examination. Trainees must understand the biology and natural history of malignant disease, the management of all stages of all common tumors, and the current specialist literature and relevant techniques of clinical research. Much of the required knowledge and necessary skills are gained during clinical attachments. However, there is a component of more formal education that may not be adequately taught during clinical rotations. Reference texts are often too unwieldy and outdated to serve as definitive textbooks in this fast-moving specialty. Similarly, what represents "current specialist literature" may be difficult for a trainee to determine. Trainees need to supplement the knowledge they gain from clinical appointments. The Internet is a useful educational tool.1-4 There are many medical oncology Web sites, but none of them are specifically targeted at trainees. A survey of all 45 medical oncology trainees in Australia was conducted in June 1999 to ascertain trainees’ views about the desirability of a Web site. Trainees were eager to have a Web site focusing on their education needs, with particular emphasis placed on a guide to the pivotal articles in medical oncology and links to Internet oncology resources. The survey further established that many trainees considered that they did not have access to an adequate quality or sufficient amount of educational material targeted specifically to them as trainees. This article describes the initiation, design, implementation, and evaluation of a peer-reviewed educational Web site for medical oncology trainees.
Development Based on results of the initial survey of trainees, the site was designed with the three major sections considered by trainees to be of greatest potential value: Key Papers, Journal Club, and Oncology Links. Initial Web site material was compiled from the Victorian Medical Oncology Trainees’ Group (VMOTG) journal club sessions from the preceding 3 years. VMOTG coordinates a journal club program of approximately 25 to 30 sessions per year. Each session focuses on a specific issue in clinical oncology. A trainee presents the material and an attending oncologist with appropriate expertise acts as a discussant. Generally, articles discussed at the journal club are those recommended by the attending oncologist. Articles presented at the journal club sessions were compiled and linked to abstracts available from PubMed5 in the major section Key Papers. Later, 30 academic medical oncologists were asked to review areas of this section relevant to their subspecialties and make recommendations regarding articles that should be added or removed. Sections within Key Papers were also linked to relevant Web sites and Internet resources. The section Oncology Links was compiled from links considered to be of value to medical oncology practitioners, with areas including organizations, conferences, journals, and practice guidelines. Further links were added based on recommendations of trainees and oncologists. Presentations from journal club sessions since 1999 are summarized and referenced in the third section of the Web site, which is termed Journal Club. The Web site was advertised by mail to members of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia and presented at the annual meeting of this group in August 1999.
Evaluation The Web hosting company collected statistics regarding number of visits to the site.
The VMOTG Web site, accessible at www.vmotg.org,6 was launched in June 1999. As of May 2000, the site comprised more than 170 pages and 30,000 words of text ( Fig 1). Key Papers lists five to 25 pivotal articles in each of 35 categories. Each cited article is linked to the abstract available from PubMed.5 When available, each topic is also linked to the National Cancer Institute’s treatment recommendations7 and to relevant areas of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Web site.8 This section has been updated in response to the suggestions of academic medical oncologists who are asked, in an ongoing process, to review areas relevant to their expertise.
Oncology Links provides links to 55 sites related to medical oncology under 10 subheadings, including organizations, conferences, journals, evidence-based medicine, training, and practice guidelines. Journal club sessions since 1999 are summarized and are accessible from chronologic or alphabetic listings. All referenced articles throughout the site are linked to abstracts from PubMed.5 A bulletin board is available for notices and discussion.
Evaluation
Several respondents "anticipated using other sites less" and suggested that the site was "suitably comprehensive" and provided "fast access to relevant sites." Many oncologists felt that the site was a valuable resource for trainees and indicated that they would recommend the site to trainees. For the month of September 2000, the site recorded more than 600 separate visits. Around 50% of all unique user sessions were resolved to geographic locations. From this group, 50% of visitors to the site between July and September 2000 were from the United States, 23% were from Australia, and another 19% (combined) were from Japan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Germany.
There is much oncology-related information on the Internet9 and many Web sites for patients. The National Cancer Institute’s CancerNet site7 is an excellent, comprehensive, and credible general resource; there are several other extensive and comprehensive oncology websites.9-13 However, unlike www.vmotg.org, these sites are not designed specifically to address the educational needs of oncology trainees. The American Society of Clinical Oncology Web site8 does include a career resource center and a list of classic oncology references. A Web search using the terms "education" and "oncology" revealed no other such Web sites. A PubMed search using the medical subject headings "education," "Internet," and "medical oncology" suggested only one other site designed to assist postgraduate education of physicians preparing for examinations in their medical specialty.14 The response rate for the evaluation survey (58% of trainees and 43% of oncologists) was disappointing but typical. Therefore, the results can not be assumed to represent the views of all medical oncology trainees or oncologists in Australia. Those who did respond rated the Web site highly. Several authors have recognized the use of Web-based resources for training. Publications in a variety of different health fields (such as respiratory medicine,1 surgery,2 radiology,3 and nursing4,15,16 describe the use of the Internet as an educational resource. Interestingly, Mehta et al17 reported that 75% of medical students consider Web-based education to be an important additional educational resource. Moura et al18 also noted a favorable response by medical students toward Web-based learning. The Internet has particular application for distance-based education.4,15,16,19 The Web site www.vmotg.org is likely to be a relevant and useful resource for oncologists in training in other countries and especially useful for those training in geographically isolated areas. The reported Web site statistics suggest that this site is currently being accessed worldwide. The Web site will be evaluated, updated, and reviewed regularly by trainees and their teachers. Self-assessment modules and a resource area for PalmPilot (Palm, Inc., Santa Clara, CA) users are planned. The Internet offers a huge range of information. Trainees need quick and ready access to pertinent material. Even more importantly, they need to develop and enhance skills in finding, appraising, interpreting, and applying high-quality information to support their clinical decision making.
We thank the Medical Oncology Group of Australia for advertising the Web site and distributing the survey. We also thank Michael Green and Martin Stockler for their support, review of the manuscript, and helpful advice.
Previously presented in poster format at the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, New Orleans, LA, May 20-23, 2000 (abstract no. 1768).
1. Simpson A, Weist A, Reading NG, et al: A pilot Internet teaching project to support specialist medical training. Hosp Med 60: 904-907, 1999[Medline] 2. Veldenz HC, Dennis JW: The Internet and education in surgery. Am Surg 64: 877-880, 1998[Medline]
3.
Tello R, Davison BD, Blickman JG: The virtual course: Delivery of live and recorded continuing medical education material over the Internet. AJR Am J Roentgenol 174: 1519-1521, 2000 4. Young G, Marks-Maran D, Macklin J: Developing a distance learning honours degree in health promotion for delivery using the Internet. Nurse Educ Today 19: 488-494, 1999[Medline] 5. National Library of Medicine: PubMed [database online]. Bethesda, MD, National Library of Medicine. Http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed 6. Jefford M, VMOTG: VMOTG [database online]. Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia. Updated May 2000. Http://www.vmotg.org 7. National Cancer Institute: CancerNet [database online]. Bethesda, MD, National Cancer Institute, 1996. Updated monthly. Http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov 8. American Society of Clinical Oncology: ASCO OnLine [database online]. Alexandria, VA, American Society of Clinical Oncology. Http://www.asco.org
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Glode LM: Challenges and opportunities of the Internet for medical oncology. J Clin Oncol 14: 2181-2186, 1996 10. Pergament D, Pergament E, Wonderlick A, et al: At the crossroads: The intersection of the Internet and clinical oncology. Oncology (Huntingt) 13: 577-586, 1999[Medline] 11. Quade G, Far F, Puschel N: Long-term evaluation of the CancerNet WWW service. Medinfo 9: 327-331, 1998 12. Gentile JA Jr: Databases, websites, and the Internet. Oncology (Huntingt) 12: 356-359, 1998[Medline]
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Casali P, Licitra L, Tondini C, et al: START: A European state-of-the-art on-line instrument for clinical oncologists. Ann Oncol 10: 769-773, 1999 14. Stempczynska J, Kacki E, Malolepszy A: Health telematics in postgraduate study. Stud Health Technol Inform 57: 205-210, 2000[Medline] 15. Leasure AR, Davis L, Thievon SL: Comparison of student outcomes and preferences in a traditional vs. World Wide Web-based baccalaureate nursing research course. J Nurs Educ 39: 149-154, 2000[Medline] 16. Chang BL, Trelease R: Education of health professionals using a proposed telehealth system. Proc AMIA Symp 496-500, 1999 17. Mehta MP, Sinha P, Kanwar K, et al: Evaluation of Internet-based oncologic teaching for medical students. J Cancer Educ 13: 197-202, 1998[Medline] 18. Moura AA, Lhano MG, Del Giglio A: Education via the Internet: Preliminary experience of the hematology-oncology discipline of the ABC Foundation School of Medicine. Rev Assoc Med Bras 46: 47-51, 2000 19. Hawkins R, Curtiss C: Cancer resources for providers in the rural community. Cancer Pract 5: 383-386, 1997[Medline] Submitted November 9, 2000; accepted February 7, 2001.
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Copyright © 2001 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Online ISSN: 1527-7755. Print ISSN: 0732-183X
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ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
