Table 6.
Completers’ performance for each question of the self-assessment test.
| LO | Question | Biologists | Physicians | Difference biologists vs. physicians (p-value) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Correct answers pre-test (single attempt) | Correct answers post-test (best attempt) | Difference (post-test vs. pre- test) | p-value | Correct answers pre-test (single attempt) | Correct answers post-test (best attempt) | Difference (post-test vs. pre- test) | p-value | |||||||
| N | % | N | % | % | N | % | N | % | % | |||||
| 1. Basic elements of genetics/genomics in oncology | 1.Why cancer is a genetic disease? | 90 | 67.7 | 115 | 86.5 | 18.8 | 0.0004 | 151 | 70.9 | 185 | 86.9 | 16.0 | <0.0001 | 0.6181 |
| 2.Mendelian inheritance refers to patterns by which genes and traits are passed on from parents to their children. Which are the most common patterns? | 99 | 74.4 | 111 | 83.5 | 9.1 | 0.0516 | 157 | 73.7 | 191 | 89.7 | 16.0 | <0.0001 | 0.2033 | |
| 3.What does the term “pathogenic variant” mean? | 94 | 70.7 | 113 | 85.0 | 14.3 | 0.0004 | 148 | 69.5 | 170 | 79.8 | 10.3 | 0.0068 | 0.4844 | |
| 2. Genetic/genomic tests for cancer diagnosis | 4.What is the primary goal of molecular genetic testing of cancer? | 78 | 58.6 | 82 | 61.7 | 3.1 | 0.5465 | 123 | 57.7 | 157 | 73.7 | 16.0 | <0.0001 | 0.0324 |
| 5.What is involved in mainstreaming cancer genetics? | 13 | 9.8 | 38 | 28.6 | 18.8 | <0.0001 | 24 | 11.3 | 77 | 36.2 | 24.9 | <0.0001 | 0.2662 | |
| 6.Which of the following statements is correct regarding cancer predisposing genes, penetrance of genes/alleles, and polygenic risk score? | 54 | 40.6 | 81 | 60.9 | 20.3 | 0.0003 | 76 | 35.7 | 137 | 64.3 | 28.6 | <0.0001 | 0.2224 | |
| 3. Risk assessment in hereditary cancers | 7.Which of the following is not a marker of inherited cancer predisposition? | 26 | 19.5 | 76 | 57.1 | 37.6 | <0.0001 | 50 | 23.5 | 122 | 57.3 | 33.8 | <0.0001 | 0.5424 |
| 8.How are hereditary cancers? | 87 | 65.4 | 109 | 82.0 | 16.6 | 0.0009 | 156 | 73.2 | 197 | 92.5 | 19.3 | <0.0001 | 0.6106 | |
| 9.Which of the following is not a marker of Lynch syndrome? | 47 | 35.3 | 83 | 62.4 | 27.1 | <0.0001 | 79 | 37.1 | 143 | 67.1 | 30.0 | <0.0001 | 0.6323 | |
| 4.Pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine | 10.What is “personalized medicine”? | 98 | 73.7 | 103 | 77.4 | 3.7 | 0.3841 | 171 | 80.3 | 185 | 86.9 | 6.6 | 0.0522 | 0.6065 |
| 11.What is “pharmacogenetics”? | 51 | 38.3 | 81 | 60.9 | 22.6 | <0.0001 | 88 | 41.3 | 139 | 65.3 | 24.0 | <0.0001 | 0.8304 | |
| 12.What is “targeted therapy”? | 85 | 63.9 | 105 | 78.9 | 15.0 | 0.0032 | 150 | 70.4 | 172 | 80.8 | 10.4 | 0.0045 | 0.4316 | |
Biologists (N = 133) vs. physicians (N = 213). Number and percent of correct answers scored by the Completers for each question of the self-assessment tests at the entry (pre-test, single attempt) and at the end (post-test, best attempt), identified by the corresponding Learning Objective (LO), are shown. Absolute difference between post- and pre-test average percentages of correct answers and corresponding p-values are also indicated as well as the p-values for the comparison of the post- vs. pre-test differences between biologists and physicians.