What does this research mean for the field?

A dedicated, resident-led elective in cancer prevention and survivorship significantly improves internal medicine residents' self-assessed confidence in managing these clinical domains. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To enhance internal medicine residents' understanding of cancer prevention and survivorship through a resident-led elective.

May 30, 2026

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Utilizing a resident-led elective to improve the understanding of cancer prevention and survivorship among internal medicine residents.

BHBryony HarropBrown University KMKaavya MandiBrown University EFElizabeth R. FrancisNational Institutes of Health

Key Points

To enhance internal medicine residents' understanding of cancer prevention and survivorship through a resident-led elective.
28 internal medicine residents participated in a month-long elective between 2023 and 2025.
Residents attended didactic sessions and rotated through various oncology-related clinics.
Pre- and post-elective surveys assessed changes in confidence using a 5-point Likert scale, analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U test.
Median confidence in cancer prevention increased from 3 (neutral) to 4 (confident) post-elective (U = 30.5, p < 0.001).
Median confidence in cancer survivorship increased from 3 to 4 (U = 18.5, p < 0.001).
These findings indicate a statistically significant improvement in residents' self-assessed competency in both areas.

Abstract

e21006 Background: Advances in cancer screening, early detection, and targeted therapies have increased the number of cancer survivors in the United States to 18.1 million as of 2022 1 , creating a patient population with complex medical, psychosocial, and financial needs. Despite this, formal training in cancer survivorship is often lacking in internal medicine residency programs. To address this unmet educational need, residents in the Brown University Internal Medicine Program developed the “Cancer Prevention 2022. Pre-Elective (n=25) Post-Elective (n=16) Domain Confidence Rating* (Mean ± SD) Confidence Rating* (Mean ± SD) Mean Difference (Post - Pre) Cancer Prevention 2.84 ± 0.69 4.25 ± 0.58 1.41 Cancer Survivorship 2.44 ± 0.77 4.19 ± 0.66 1.75 *1 = very unconfident, 2 = unconfident, 3 = neutral, 4 = confident, 5 = very confident.

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Utilizing a resident-led elective to improve the understanding of cancer prevention and survivorship among internal medicine residents.

Key Points

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