Learnings from the forced transition of an industry supported educational programme for young experts in urology and oncology from face-to-face to digital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused face-to-face meetings to be cancelled, an industry-sponsored educational programme, designed to develop skills and expand knowledge of young experts in oncology and urology, was forced to partially move from face-to-face setting to virtual meetings. In our outcomes analysis, we aimed to better understand what drives behavioural change following a series of educational interventions based on the physical or virtual formats. Therefore, we performed a structured outcomes evaluation for each educational intervention, including the perspectives of the learner and the teaching faculty. Our main findings were that "relevance" is the strongest driver of recall, satisfaction and behavioural change. Social interactions amongst learners and between faculty and learners are possible in the digital world, and we observed a trend of the young learners in favour of digital learning, especially with improved technical platforms enabling social interaction. Other findings were that new skills are required by the teaching faculty and that hybrid formats were identified by all participants as the model of the future. When developing future educational programmes, these specific needs of learners and faculty need to be considered and offer opportunities to develop more personalised programmes in order to increase learning impact.

Effective Learning in Virtual Conferences: The Application of Five Principles of Learning.

In this article, we examine the adaptation of learning among scientists and healthcare professionals in conferences and symposia from face-to-face to fully virtual meetings accelerated in the last years. Advantages and limitations for both settings have been described in different research studies but the effectiveness of learning can be reflected similarly by applying five fundamental principles of learning, which are based on empirical research in cognitive psychology. From a practical context, we compared the individual learning outcomes from two satellite symposia conducted face-to-face in 2019 and virtually in 2021 at the European Congress of Urology, EAU. Although both conference formats were almost identical, the five principles of learning were applied in both symposia. There were also some differences due to adaptation to online conferences, and our findings suggest that the virtual conference was perceived as significantly more effective than the face-to-face conference on all five criteria, and digital learning is a valid alternative to face-to-face conferences. What still needs to be better understood and analysed is the informal learning that is taking place during conferences, but suggesting an active design of any digital event by combining "technical literacy· with "learning literacy" will enable us to better analyse and study the impact of learning using the five learning principles in the design of other events in the future.

Outcome Measures in Online Educational Videos.

As an education charity, it is vital for ecancer to understand how effective its educational videos are as educational tools. This includes understanding what effect the funding of the production of the video has, whether it was funded through an unrestricted educational grant from industry or it was funded by ecancer itself through its charitable funds. In this article, we have looked at four viewer engagement and satisfaction ratings in order to examine any differences. One hundred and twenty-three videos were examined in total recorded at six separate conferences over two years.

Report on the status of women occupying leadership roles in oncology.

BACKGROUND: While the global workforce is approaching gender parity, women occupy a small number of management level positions across most professions, including healthcare. Although the inclusion of women into the membership of many oncology societies has increased, the under-representation of women in leadership roles within international and national oncology societies remains relatively consistent. Moreover, the exact status of women participating as board members or presidents of oncology societies or as speakers at oncology congresses was undocumented to date. METHODS: The database used in this analysis was derived from data collection performed by the European Society for Medical Oncology for the years 2015-2016 and data analyses performed using the Statistical Analysis Software V.9.3 and R language for statistical computing V.3.4.0 by Frontier Science Foundation-Hellas. The literature search was performed by the authors. RESULTS: We report the presence of a gender gap within oncology. Results regarding the under-representation of women occupying leadership roles in oncology show female participation as members of the board or presidents of national and international oncology societies and as invited speakers at oncology congresses remains below 50% in the majority of societies included in this analysis. Women in leadership positions of societies was associated with a higher percentage of female invited speakers at these societies' congresses (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: The full contribution that can be attained from using the potential of women in leadership roles is currently under-realised. Examples of how gender and minority participation in organisations improves outcomes and creativity are provided from science, clinical practice and industry that show outcomes are greatly improved by collective participation of both men and women. Although there are programmes in place in many oncology organisations to improve this disparity, the gender gap is still there. Ongoing discussion may help to create more awareness in the effort to accelerate the advancement of women within oncology.

Gender-related challenges facing oncologists: the results of the ESMO Women for Oncology Committee survey.

BACKGROUND: Although women account for a growing proportion of the oncology workforce, there is evidence they are under-represented in leadership roles. To gain further insights into this issue and extend understanding of gender challenges, the European Society for Medical Oncology Women for Oncology (W4O) Committee undertook a survey of female and male oncologists in 2016. DESIGN: The 2016 W4O questionnaire included questions on (1) Demographics and professional environment, (2) Gender impact on career development, (3) Challenges for career progression and inappropriate behaviour experienced in the workplace, (4) Barriers for gender parity and (5) The gender gap. Between July and September 2016, the online survey was available to male and female clinical and academic oncology healthcare professionals in the EU and internationally. RESULTS: Responses were analysed from 462 oncologists, of whom 76.7 % were women. Of female respondents, 45.5 % had a managerial or leadership role, compared with 65 % of male respondents (p<0.001). Men were more likely to have leadership roles, even in clinical teams with more women than men. Women respondents were more likely to consider their gender had a major impact on their career than men: 35.9 % vs 20.9 % (p<0.001). The biggest challenge to career progression for women was work and family balance (64.2%). Of female respondents, 14.4 % believed there had been significant or major progress in closing the gender pay gap compared with 39.3 % of men (p<0.001). Of female participants, 37.7 % reported they had encountered unwanted sexual comments by a superior or colleague. CONCLUSIONS: New initiatives are needed to address under-representation of women oncologists in leadership roles, including greater and concrete promotion of work-life balance, development and leadership training for women, and more support for flexible working. The fact that over a third of women in the survey had encountered unwanted sexual comments at work is of great concern and must be urgently addressed.

Identifying Educational Needs and Practice Gaps of European Hematologists and Hematology Nurses in the Treatment and Management of Multiple Myeloma.

This needs-assessment aimed to identify clinical challenges faced by hematologists and hematology nurses in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of multiple myeloma, as well as contextual barriers hindering optimal care of patients with multiple myeloma. This manuscript focuses on key findings in relation to decision-making regarding new treatment options. A mixed methods study consisting of qualitative (from semistructured interviews) and quantitative data (from an online survey) was conducted in 8 European countries among hematologists and hematology nurses. The triangulated data led to the identification of 3 key findings related to decision-making: (1) Educational needs regarding mechanisms of action and side effect profiles of new therapies, (2) educational needs regarding the sequencing and combination of new agents with current therapies, and (3) contextual barriers to the integration of new agents. Specific knowledge and skill gaps were identified as causalities of the educational needs, providing information to guide future educational programs. Of note, 34% of hematologists and 69% of nurses reported suboptimal knowledge of the mechanisms of action of new agents and 30% of hematologists reported suboptimal skills integrating new agents in combination with current treatments. This needs-assessment highlighted the importance to address the educational needs and their underlying causes through medical education activities to ensure hematologists and hematology nurses are up-to-date with the latest treatments in the field as they become available. The contextual barriers identified should be considered when designing the educational programs to ensure content is applicable to the clinical reality of learners.

Framework for industry engagement and quality principles for industry-provided medical education in Europe.

Lifelong learning through continuing professional development (CPD) and medical education is critical for healthcare professionals to stay abreast of knowledge and skills and provide an optimal standard of care to patients. In Europe, CPD and medical education are fragmented as there are numerous models, providers and national regulations and a lack of harmonisation of qualitative criteria. There is continued debate on the appropriate role of pharmaceutical companies in the context of medical education. Accrediting bodies such as European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education do not permit active involvement of the pharmaceutical industry due to concerns around conflicts of interest and potential for bias. However, many examples of active collaboration between pharmaceutical companies and medical societies and scientific experts exist, demonstrating high integrity, clear roles and responsibilities, and fair and balanced content. Medical education experts from 16 pharmaceutical companies met to develop a set of quality principles similar to standards that have been established for clinical trials and in alignment with existing principles of accrediting bodies. This paper outlines their proposal for a framework to improve and harmonise medical education quality standards in Europe, and is also an invitation for all stakeholders to join a discussion on this integrative model.