Developing a best practice framework for clinical competency education in the traditional East-Asian medicine curriculum (2025)

The past, present, and future of traditional medicine education in Korea

Integrative Medicine Research, 2016

Korea has kept the heritage of Korean traditional medicine (KM) during the 19th century harsh modernization, and has established a medical system in parallel with Western medicine. The purpose of this study was to review systematically the history and current system for educating highly qualified traditional medical doctors in Korea. KM produces 750 certified medical doctors every year with a 4-7-year curriculum in 12 universities and their affiliated hospitals. There are 22,074 clinicians along with 2474 clinical specialists in eight departments as of 2014. A national licensing examination and continuing medical education for KM are used for maintaining qualifications of KM doctors, and independent organizations are established for the evaluation of educational institutes. KM has thrived to establish an independent and competitive educational system for KM doctors, equivalent to Western medicine, and has regained a pivotal role for public health in Korea. This study would be useful for cultivating traditional medicine and establishing its educational system in the world.

Attitudes of Korean and Chinese traditional medical doctors on education of East Asian traditional medicine

Integrative Medicine Research, 2016

Background: The traditional medicine (TRM) of Korea and China share the same cultural tradition for thousands of years, and has experienced modernization process with respect to their distinctive social, cultural, and political influences. The purpose of this study was to analyze the attitude of Korean and Chinese TRM doctors on the current situation and future perspectives of the TRM education. We analyzed the recognition on the current educational system, and needed curriculums from Korean (n = 188) and Chinese (n = 118) TRM doctors. The validity of the structured questionnaire was examined with exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation and reliability with Cronbach ␣. The differences between Korean and Chinese TRM doctors were examined with t test. Results: Chinese TRM doctors consider their educational system more positively as for the standardization and professional ethics than the Korean. The Korean and Chinese wanted more emphasis on the education of medical humanities, clinical skills, medical classics, and alternative medicine, although it was more prominent with the Chinese. This study revealed the attitude of Korean and Chinese TRM doctors on their educational system, and discussed the implication of similarities and differences between them. It would provide foundations for the improvement of the TRM educational curriculums.

Report: Holding clinical competency examination among medical students in Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz, Iran

Journal of Analytical Research in Clinical Medicine, 2017

Introduction: The purpose of evaluating educational curriculums is to improve training programs. The application of the results obtained from these evaluations is the proof of success or failure of the program. This study was carried out to report codification of operational plan of the clinical competence examination for medical students. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, the operating process of evaluation program is explained by details step by step. This survey was based on a questionnaire collected from 200 participants of the first clinical competence examination of medical students. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: Of all the participants, 55.8% were female and 44.2% were male. There was no statistically significant difference in score averages between male and female students (14.55 ± 1.72 vs.14.55 ± 1.3; P = 0.970). Mean pre-internship exam score among male students was 126.73 ± 21.04 and 128.18 ± 20.96 among female students, and the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.630). There was a statistically significant but weak correlation between examination and pre-internship scores (r = 0.27, P < 0.001). Exam scores were statistically higher as the absent sessions of students decreased (P = 0.010). Conclusion: Codification of the administrative process and consequently obtaining results has been effective in success of evaluation program and application of the results in future programs. Also it informs authorities how much the goals of training program is satisfied and reminds the necessity of execution of corrective programs.

– Medical education Curriculum gaps in teaching clinical skills to Iranian undergraduate medical students

Archives of Medical Science, 2013

An Integrated Competency-based Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education Programme in Bhutan

South East Asian Journal of Medical Education, 2023

Introduction: Training of health human resources is an integral component of strengthening health systems. In Bhutan, the postgraduate training programme commenced in 2014 and the undergraduate programme is scheduled to begin in 2024. Methods: The curriculum was drafted by a team of experts and reviewed over multiple rounds with medical educators, health administrators and field experts from within and outside the country. The curriculum was validated by a team of experts from the university and the medical council. The curriculum for the Bhutan Medicine Programme adopted an integrated approach for teaching-learning and assessments. Results: Core competencies have been defined to meet the needs of a graduate that is prepared to face the challenges of the present and the future. Learning objectives are constructively aligned with teaching-learning and assessment tools. The five-year programme includes the Foundation of Medicine, Early Clinical Exposure, System integration through module-based learning, Clinical rotations including professorial attachments and internship. Community medicine, behavioural sciences and medical humanities are incorporated through the first to fourth years. We foresee a challenge in the acceptance of an integrated curriculum from sections of senior clinicians and teachers who have been trained in a traditional curriculum. A series of faculty development programmes have been conducted to discuss advantages of an integrated approach. Conclusion: Implementation of an integrated curriculum requires adequate faculty together with faculty development. Faculty recruitment is ongoing at the time of publication.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Postgraduate General Medicine Training by Objective Structured Clinical Examination—Pilot Study and Reflection on the Experiences of Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital

Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences, 2008

Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is an effective assessment method to evaluate medical students' clinical competencies performance. Postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) residents have been initiated in a general medicine training program in Taiwan since 2003. However, little is known about the learning effectiveness of trainees from this program. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the clinical core competencies of PGY1 residents using OSCE, and to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of this pilot assessment project. OSCE was conducted for five PGY1 examinees (4 men, 1 woman) with five stations covering core themes, including history taking, physical examination, clinical procedure of airway intubation, clinical reasoning, and communication skills for informing bad news. Itemized checklists and five-point Likert scale global ratings were used for evaluating performance. The results showed that the performance of our PGY1 residents on history taking was significantly better after about 2 months of postgraduate training on general internal medicine. Self-evaluation on performance by examinees revealed significantly lower global ratings on post-course OSCE (4.14 ± 0.80 vs. 3.68 ± 0.66; p < 0.02). Surveys from tutors and standardized patients (SPs) completed at pre-and post-course OSCEs showed consistently favorable responses on the purposes, content, process, and environment of this assessment (4.0 ± 0.17 vs. 4.0 ± 0.12, nonsignificant). However, a survey of the examinees completed at preand post-course OSCEs showed relatively unfavorable responses to the same aspects, and to tutors and SPs (4.1 ± 0.09 vs. 3.7 ± 0.18; p < 0.05). Qualitative information revealed that tutors and SPs remarked that PGY1 residents' medical knowledge performance was satisfactory but their clinical reasoning performance, communication skills (giving bad news) and self-confidence were unsatisfactory. In conclusion, this pilot study has demonstrated that OSCE is a rational and

Assessing Core Clinical Competencies Required of Medical Graduates in Taiwan

The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences, 2006

Curriculum gaps in teaching clinical skills to Iranian undergraduate medical students

Archives of medical science : AMS, 2013

Changes in the accreditation standards of medical schools by the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation from 2000 to 2019

This review presents information on changes in the accreditation standards of medical schools in Korea by the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE) from 2000 to 2019. Specifically, the following aspects are explained: the development process, setting principles and directions, evaluation items, characteristics of the standards, and validity testing over the course of 4 cycles. The first cycle of accreditation (2000-2005) focused on ensuring the minimum requirements for the educational environment. The evaluation criteria emphasized the core elements of medical education, including facilities and human resources. The second cycle of accreditation (2007-2010) emphasized universities' commitment to social accountability and the pursuit of excellence in medical education. It raised the importance of qualitative standards for judging the content and quality of education. In the post-second accreditation cycle (2012-2018) which means third accreditation cycle, accreditation criteria were developed to standardize the educational environment and programs and to be used for curriculum development in order to continually improve the quality of basic medical education. Most recently, the ASK 2019 (Accreditation Standards of KIMEE 2019) accreditation cycle focused on qualitative evaluations in accordance with the World Federation of Medical Education's accreditation criteria to reach the international level of basic medical education, which emphasizes the need for a student-centered curriculum, communication with society, and evaluation through a comprehensive basic medical education course. The KIMEE has developed a basic medical education evaluation and accreditation system in a step-bystep manner, as outlined above. Understanding previous processes will be helpful for the future development of accreditation criteria for medical schools in Korea.

Evaluating Clinical Educators' Competence in an East Asian Context: Who Values What?

Frontiers in Medicine, 2022

Background: How to evaluate clinical educators is an important question in faculty development. The issue of who are best placed to evaluate their performance is also critical. However, the whos and the hows of clinical educator evaluation may differ culturally. This study aims to understand what comprises suitable evaluation criteria, alongside who is best placed to undertake the evaluation of clinical educators in medicine within an East Asian culture: specifically Taiwan. Methods: An 84-item web-based questionnaire was created based on a literature review and medical educational experts' opinions focusing on potential raters (i.e., who) and domains (i.e., what) for evaluating clinical educators. Using purposive sampling, we sent 500 questionnaires to clinical educators, residents, PostGraduate Year Trainees (PGYs), Year-4∼6/Year-7 medical students (M4∼6/M7) and nurses. Results: We received 258 respondents with 52% response rate. All groups, except nurses, chose "teaching ability" as the most important domain. This contrasts with research from Western contexts that highlights role modeling, leadership and enthusiasm. The clinical educators and nurses have the same choices of the top five items in the "personal qualities" domain, but different choices in "assessment ability" and "curriculum planning" domains. The best fit rater groups for evaluating clinical educators were educators themselves and PGYs. Conclusions: There may well be specific suitable domains and populations for evaluating clinical educators' competence in East Asian culture contexts. Further research in these contexts is required to examine the reach of these findings.