Current landscape of ESMO/ASCO Global Curriculum adoption and medical oncology recognition: a global survey

BACKGROUND: With the implementation of multidisciplinary treatment and development of multiple novel anticancer drugs in parallel with expanding knowledge of supportive and palliative care, a need for separate training and specialisation in medical oncology emerged. A Global Curriculum (GC) in medical oncology, developed and updated by a joint European Society for Medical Oncology/American Society of Clinical Oncology (ESMO/ASCO) GC Task Force/Working Group (GC WG), greatly contributed to the recognition of medical oncology worldwide. MATERIAL AND METHODS: ESMO/ASCO GC WG carried out a global survey on medical oncology recognition and GC adoption in 2019. RESULTS: Based on our survey, medical oncology is recognised as a separate specialty or sub-specialty in 47/62 (75%) countries participating in the survey; with a great majority of them (39/47, 83%) recognising medical oncology as a standalone specialty. Additionally, in 9 of 62 (15%) countries, medical oncology is trained together with haematology as a specialty in haemato-oncology or together with radiotherapy as a specialty in clinical oncology. As many as two-thirds of the responding countries reported that the ESMO/ASCO GC has been either fully or partially adopted or adapted in their curriculum. It has been adopted in a vast majority of countries with established training in medical oncology (28/41; 68%) and adapted in 12 countries with mixed training in haemato-oncology, clinical oncology or other specialty responsible for training on systemic anticancer treatment. CONCLUSIONS: With 75% of participating countries reporting medical oncology as a separate specialty or sub-specialty and as high as 68% of them reporting on GC adoption, the results of our survey on global landscape are reassuring. Despite a lack of data for some regions, this survey represents the most comprehensive and up-to-date information about recognition of medical oncology and GC adoption worldwide and will allow both societies to further improve the dissemination of the GC and global recognition of medical oncology, thus contributing to better cancer care worldwide.