Abstract
Introduction: Studies demonstrate that less than 50% of Internal Medicine (IM) resident physicians feel comfortable caring for cancer patients. Furthermore, in the United States, the ACGME does not require residency programs to dedicate a standardized amount of time or education on hematologic/oncologic services. Research is limited on the prior use of education modules to attempt to address this knowledge gap. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first standardized online education platform for IM residents rotating on the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) service at a large, urban academic hospital.
Methods: Beginning from January 13, 2025, until July 13, 2025, 37 IM residents rotating on the BMT service were emailed a 10-question pre-test prior to the start of their rotation. Only after completion of the pre-test they were provided access to the education modules to be reviewed at their own leisure. Eight online modules were created utilizing a readily accessible free online platform (i.e. Google Drive). Modules focused on high yield diagnoses, complications, and medications commonly managed on the BMT service. The topics included: Hematologic Emergencies, Infections in Immunocompromised Host, Chemotherapy Toxicities, Multiple Myeloma, Acute Myeloid/Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (AML/APL), Autologous and Allogenic Stem Cell Transplant, Chimeric Antigen Receptor Therapy (CAR-T), and Cytokine Release Syndrome/Immune Effector Cell Neurotoxicity Syndrome (CRS/ICANS). On the last day of the IM resident's rotation, they were provided the same 10-question post-test along with an additional question accessing educational satisfaction. Knowledge assessments were created and stored in RedCap. Analysis was conducted using Microsoft Excel and RedCap.
Results: From January 2025 through July 2025, IM residents scheduled to rotate through the BMT unit were recruited via email to participate in this pilot study. 78.3% of residents (n=29/37) completed the pre-test and 70% (n=23/37) completed the post test. 79.3% were PGY-2 (n=23) and 20.6% PGY-3 (n=6). 51.7% (n=15/29) reported rotating through the BMT unit for the first time in their training and 48.3% (n=14/29) percent reported this was not their first time. The average pre-test score was 60.6% and improved to 70% on the post test. 100% of residents reported satisfaction with the learning platform.
Conclusions: We present a novel standardized education curriculum for IM residents rotating through the BMT unit. Our results suggest improvement in knowledge utilizing this online, readily accessible platform. While the limitation of our pilot study is lack of a control arm, thus making it difficult to separate the contribution of online platform based learning and clinical case-based learning while on service, all residents reported satisfaction with this independent style of learning
