Report of an international summer school--oncology for medical students--in 1996 in Groningen, The Netherlands.

An international summer school session, Oncology for Medical Students, was held in 1996 at Groningen University Hospital in The Netherlands. It was sponsored and organized by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Cancer Education-Groningen. The central focus of the two-week course was cancer in general health care. Various teaching techniques were used, but interaction between students and patients, and students and faculty, was considered a prerequisite. The approach was multidisciplinary, with a variety of clinical disciplines participating, including patient organizations and the Comprehensive Cancer Center North Netherlands. The students, from all over the world, presented posters about oncology topics in their countries. Evaluation showed that the course was highly appreciated by the students; in particular, the students felt they had benefitted from the multidisciplinary approach, the patient encounters, the psychosocial concern, the poster sessions, the quality of the teaching, and meeting other students from all over the world.