PURPOSE: Chungbuk National University Professional Graduate Medical School(PGMS) was established in 2005. Students in this program have been taught together with the medical college (MC) students under the same curriculum. The first year now being complete, we decided to assess the curricular achievements of the PGMS students. METHODS: We analyzed the academic achievements of the PGMS and the MC students by comparing the test scores of each subject taught during the first year. RESULTS: MC students showed significantly higher achievements in 'Structural basis of the human body' and 'Neuroanatomy', while PGMS students showed significantly better achievements in 'Health and Society I'. In the remaining subjects, the achievements of the PGMS students were comparable to those of the MC students. And there was a difference of variances in 'Microstructure of the human cell and tissue', 'Molecular genetics' and 'Pathology', showing the heterogeneity of the two groups. CONCLUSION: There was no difference in the overall achievement between the PGMS and MC students in the first year of Chungbuk National University Professional Graduate Medical School. However, the different characteristics between the PGMS and MC students suggest some need for curricular differentiation between the two groups.
Chungcheongbuk-do* ; Curriculum ; Humans ; Population Characteristics ; Schools, Medical*

PURPOSE: This study was to examine whether medical students' academic motivation, general academic stress influence their perceived academic performance. METHODS: Of the 606 medical students surveyed from two universities in Seoul and Incheon, 308 completed and returned the questionnaires yielding a total response rate of 50.8%. The final sample consisted of 129 premedical students (41.9%) and 179 medical students (58.1%). Of these, 189 were male (61.4%), 94 were female (30.5%), and 25 did not identify their gender (8.1%). Their average age was 22.43 years. Measures of students' academic motivation, general academic stress, medical stress, and their perceptions of academic performance were obtained. RESULTS: Pearson's correlations indicated that students' perceptions of academic performance were associated with academic motivation, general academic stress, and medical stress. It was observed that there were gender differences in 'perceptions of academic performance,' 'intrinsic academic motivation,' and 'extrinsic academic motivation.' Females scored themselves higher in 'perceptions of academic performance,'and 'ntrinsic academic motivation,'but lower in 'xtrinsic academic motivation'than did the males. Moreover, premedical students had higher 'perceptions of academic performance' and 'extrinsic academic motivation' scores, but lower 'eneral academic stress'and 'edical stress'scores than medical students. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the 'motivation'subscale from the academic motivation measure and 'social-psychological' subscale from the general academic stress measure predicted the perceptions of academic performances of the medical students after controlling for gender and education level. CONCLUSION: Medical educators need to be aware that medical students' perceived stress and their academic motivation affects their academic performance which can have a tremendous impact on their quality of life and psychological well-being. Perhaps an academic adjustment program needs to be developed to reduce students' perceived stress in medical training.
Education ; Female ; Humans ; Incheon ; Male ; Motivation* ; Quality of Life ; Seoul ; Students, Medical* ; Students, Premedical ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The aim of the study is to evaluate the possibility of giving student interns intern- level responsibilities and to discuss the various obstacles. METHODS: Modifications were made to the student internship program, including rotations through major departments, for 4th-year medical students and was conducted at the College of Medicine, Kangwon National University. We surveyed 49 students for the evaluation of the program, administered a checklist evaluation for their performance, and interviewed two focus groups of faculties and residents to find out the obstacles of the program. RESULTS: Most of the students answered that the program was satisfactory and necessary. Of the students, 71.4% performed as an acting intern. The mean score of the students' performance was 84.1. The students had the most difficulty with time management and making diagnostic and management decisions. Initially, at the start of the program, both students and residents were somewhat confused about the student interns' duties. They suggested that definite learning objectives, legal and institutional support to students' clinical practice, and announcements to patients and hospital staff should be put in place prior to the implementation of such a program. CONCLUSION: We discovered that it was possible for student interns to perform at the level of interns. We suggest that systemic improvements continue for the establishment of such student internship program.
Checklist ; Education, Medical ; Focus Groups ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Internship and Residency* ; Learning ; Students, Medical ; Time Management

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of standardized patients'(SP) rating according to the order of examinees in clinical performance examination. METHODS: In the clinical performance examination which was administered in 2005 at Seoul National University College of Medicine, each SP evaluated 16 students consecutively. For all 16 SPs(2 SPs per station), accuracy of rating was evaluated by comparing the individual records of each SP to the 'recording keys' made by two SPs from reviewing a video recording of performances by examinees. RESULTS: The average number of items incorrectly rated by SP was 3.8(range, 0~12), 2.8 in female SPs and 4.8 in male SPs(p<0.001). No statistical correlation was observed between the number of errors and the order of examinees(p=0.843). Even after stratification by gender or age of the SPs or domains of examination, the number of items incorrectly rated did not differ significantly according to the order of examinees. CONCLUSION: An increase in SP's rating error with time after the start of examinations was not observed within the 16 consecutive encounters in clinical performance examination. The effect of SP's fatigue on the accuracy of simulation as an examination progresses remains to be studied.
Fatigue ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Seoul ; Video Recording

PURPOSE: Clinical performance examination(CPX) using standardized patients(SPs) is an acceptable method of testing medical professionals, but there has been some concerns about security. The objective of this work is to examine whether the day of the examination influences the scores of examinees of different medical schools at different times throughout the examination period. METHODS: Six medical schools, which had participated in the Seoul-Gyeonggi CPX Consortium 2005, were enrolled. Each station, controlled by the same regulations, included 12 minutes of SP encounter and 5 minutes of writing a short essay. We compared the mean scores using ANOVA and linear trends with multiple regression analyses and SPSS version 11.0. RESULTS: The mean score of examinees from all 6 medical schools was 63.2+/-.9. There was no difference in total mean scores among the medical schools according to the period when CPX was conducted. Classified by their examination day, there was no difference among the mean scores of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day, but in one school where the examination was performed for 5days, the mean scores of the 4th day was higher than the others(p<0.05). There were trends of linear increases over the five days for the 'physical examination'question, but not for 'physician-patient interaction'and 'patient education'. CONCLUSION: The changes in scores according to the examination day in this study did not show consistent results. However, the variable results seen according to school, test question, and examination day need further analysis for test security issues.
Clinical Competence ; Humans ; Schools, Medical* ; Social Control, Formal ; Writing

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of case type and gender of standardized patient on student performance in a clinical performance examination(CPX). METHODS: During 2005, an eight-station CPX was administered to fourth-year students from 4 medical schools. A total of 306 students, of which 206(67%) were male, participated in the exam. Station checklists, scored by the SPs, consisted of history taking(Hx), physical examination(PE), information sharing(IS), clinical courtesy(CC) and patient-physician interaction(PPI). A measurement of students' perceived difficulty was obtained through student questionnaires. The difference of CPX scores between male and female students were studied using Mann-Whitney's U. RESULTS: Across the gender-neutral cases, female students scored better in Hx in 2 cases. In PE, IS and CC, the only difference seen was with CC in 1 case(female students scored higher). In PPI, female students performed better than male students in all female SP cases and one male SP case, but, there was a significant student gender-SP gender interaction when averaging all cases. For the gender sensitive case, there was no significant difference in all checklist categories in the male case when student gender was considered. In the female case, female students performed better than male students only in PPI. Student questionnaires revealed that there was no significant difference in perceived difficulty between male and female students. RESULTS: The standardized patients' ratings in gender sensitive cases are not affected by the gender of standardized patients and students, except in PPI with a female case where female students performed better than male students.
Checklist ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Schools, Medical ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to develop a course to teach through problem-based learning the use of antibiotics during an internal medicine clerkship, and to evaluate the responses of students to it. METHODS: The course was designed to teach third-year medical students how to prescribe antibiotics to be given to real patients. A qualitative evaluation for the modified problem-based learning was performed by tutor's observation and focus group interview, and a quantitative evaluation by questionnaires before and after the course. RESULTS: Seventy-nine students experienced the modified problem-based learning during the infectious disease section of an internal medicine clerkship. Most students participated actively and gave a positive evaluation expressing a need for problem-based learning on prescribing antibiotics. The course significantly increased the students' self-confidence in both approaching patients and prescribing antibiotics. CONCLUSION: Modified problem-based learning is a useful educational tool in clinical clerkship.
Anti-Bacterial Agents* ; Clinical Clerkship ; Communicable Diseases ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Internal Medicine* ; Problem-Based Learning* ; Students, Medical ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Scientific and humanistic aspects are integral to medicine and they must be bounded and integrated, not to suggest that one is more important than the other, or that they operate separately.In fact, the symbol of the physician, 'Caduceus' properly represents the bonding and intertwining between two forces of knowledge and wisdom or science and humanities, and as seen in the Hippocratic Oath, the humanities and the humanistic aspect of medical profession were important parts of practice thousands of years before medicine learned to use science as a new approach to acquire knowledge. However, the advances in science and technology in the early twenty century have fostered an emphasis on knowledge and technical skills in medical education with a neglect of the traditional humane and interpersonal aspects of the practice of medicine. Due to these concerns, for the last some 30years, there have been many attempts to improve general professional education and promote humanities curricula in medical education such as atruistic attitudes and professional behaviors that those pursuing careers in medicine should possess. This paper briefly reviews current status of teaching medical humanities and social sciences in Korean medical schools, and discusses tasks to be coped with to further improve the medical humanities curriculum in Korea including development of effective teaching and evaluation methods. This paper also emphasizes the importance of the role of the medical education systems such as National Licensing Medical Examination and the Medical School Accreditation System in improving the teaching of medical humanities and social sciences in Korean medical schools.
Accreditation ; Curriculum ; Education, Medical ; Education, Professional ; Hippocratic Oath ; Humanities* ; Humans* ; Korea ; Licensure ; Schools, Medical* ; Social Sciences

No Abstract available.

No abstract available.