Education in oncology and career development in the web-era technology: a European survey conducted by the Hellenic Group of Young Oncologists (HeGYO)

New technologies, especially internet, promote not only cancer research but also education and career development. The aim of this study was to reveal if European oncologists are familiar and satisfied with these new technologies in the current Web-Era. Residents and specialized medical, clinical and surgical oncologists from Europe were invited to complete a comprehensive forty multiple-choice web-questionnaire. The study was kindly endorsed by scientific organizations such as ESMO YOC, ECCO, ESO and HeSMO. These are the final results from 234 participants (61% males). 70% are from Greece and 30% from 16 other European countries. 57.3% are 30-40 years old, 67.5% are medical oncologists while 37.2% are residents. 59.8% are ESMO and 30.3% ASCO members. 28.6% have ESMO accreditation, 30.3% GCP and 32.9% PhD degree. 44% of the responders tend to attend 1-3 national congresses and 70.5% 1-3 international congresses per year which they find beneficial for their continuous education (94%). More than 50% consider ASCO and ESMO website/newsletters useful. The more useful sections of ESMO “OncologyPro” are considered the “Guidelines and Practice” (66%) and the “Oncology news” (49%). Nearly 50% have participated in ESMO fellowships/educational activities and 50% are planning to participate in some of them. 39% of oncologists are satisfied with ESMO fellowships and 83% are satisfied with ESMO educational activities. 55% use LinkedIn, 42% ResearchGate, 18% Facebook and 7% Twitter, while 15% have their own Personal website. For search engine 28% use GoogleScholar, 14% PubFacts and 15% SlideShare. Lack of time and financial issues are considered as the main problems for continuous professional development while clinical practice and on-line medical resources are considered the most effective ways to achieve continuous medical education. The majority of oncologists are well informed about the educational opportunities in their countries and in Europe. An increasing number of oncologists gets familiar and satisfied with the new technologies in the Web-Era and use them for their continuous oncology education and career development.