Purpose: Evidence-based medicine (EBM), precision medicine and interdisciplinarity are becoming increasingly important in medical education. The purposeful connection between EBM and interdisciplinary work is given in the context of a tumor board, since therapy decisions are discussed here in an interdisciplinary team based on current evidence-based guidelines. To date, there has been little focus on either topic. Therefore, we aimed to assess the existing knowledge and offered a practical exercise in terms of a tumor board simulation training for medical students during their surgical study semester. Methods: First, a knowledge test was performed in 4th year medical students (n = 149) addressing the topic of EBM following an evaluation questionnaire. Subsequently, a structured one hour- lecture was held. The students were divided into groups of up to ten and assigned with specific professional roles of tumor board members. Thereafter, students participated in a live simulated tumor board. At the end the same knowledge test and evaluation questionnaire were delivered (n = 163). Study was conducted at Heidelberg Medical University between 2023 and 2024. Results: A significant increase in knowledge was seen before versus after the course only in the primarily better students (p < 0.0001). Almost no difference in knowledge test was seen before and after the course pertaining all students (p = 0.205). Evaluation questionnaire displayed that 45% (n = 66) of the students had not dealt with the topic of EBM before the course. 98% (n = 146) of the students considered that interdisciplinary work in medical profession is very important. Conclusion: Including EBM and precision medicine in a practical way into the medical curriculum is necessarily needed. As only the best students seemed to benefit significantly, a more sustainable approach might be the implementation of a longitudinal precision medicine curriculum.

Introduction: At the beginning of medical school, anatomy courses usually take place on cadavers. Mostly several years of medical training without any further clinically applied anatomical lessons are following. Therefore, we decided to review and refresh students’ knowledge of anatomy with special regard to surgical clinical settings. Methods: An interdisciplinary surgical-based radiology seminar for final year students in their internship year and fourth year students during their surgical semester was performed starting with a surgical-radiological-anatomical knowledge exam. Afterwards, clinical cases were discussed in detail including for example videos from operations and corresponding radiological imaging by specialists from both surgery and radiology. At the end of the seminar, the same knowledge survey and an evaluation questionnaire were carried out. Results: Both final year students and fourth year students showed a significant increase regarding the knowledge questions after the interactive interdisciplinary seminar ( p 0.001). In addition, fourth year student’s post-seminar results were significantly higher than post-seminar results reached by final year students ( p 0.001). Ninety-seven percent of final year students perceived the seminar as useful preparation for the first year as a resident. Conclusion: In summary, this study demonstrates the value of implementing a clinically applied anatomy refresher into the medical curriculum to increase students’ knowledge and better prepare them for their residency.