This study explored medical students' major research topics and research methods by analyzing 184 academic articles pertaining to the characteristics of medical students from 2007 to 2017. Results showed many papers dealing with medical students' emotional and cognitive aspects, student counseling, clinical practice education, and curriculum management. According to the medical education accreditation board, research trends were found mostly in the student and curriculum areas of learner characteristics, medical humanities, student counseling, clinical practice education, and curriculum management. Common research topics have been steadily increasing since the introduction of the evaluation accreditation standard in 2012. Medical students predominantly used quantitative research methods for the studies. In the future, it is necessary to ensure that research topics such as CQI, digital- and performance-based clinical practice, and convergent curriculum within the Fourth Industrial Revolution are being studied. In addition, it is crucial to investigate learners' unique, dynamic, and qualitative characteristics through qualitative and mixed methods.
Accreditation ; Counseling ; Curriculum ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Humanities ; Humans ; Students, Medical

The aim of this study was to analyze the research trends in articles published in the Korean Journal of Medical Education (KJME) and Korean Medical Education Review (KMER) using keyword network analysis. The analyses included 507 papers from 2010 to 2019 published in KJME and KMER. First, keyword frequency analysis showed that the research topics that appeared in both journals were “medical student,” “curriculum,” “clinical clerkship,” and “undergraduate medical education.” Second, centrality analysis of a network map of the keywords identified “curriculum” and “medical student” as highly important research topics in both journals. Third, a cluster analysis of 20 core keywords in KMER identified research clusters related to academic motivation, achievement, educational measurement, medical competence, and clinical practice (centered on “learning,” while in KJME, clusters were related to educational method and program evaluation, medical competence, and clinical practice (centered on “teaching”). In conclusion, future medical education research needs to expand to encompass other research areas, such as educational methods, student evaluations, the educational environment, student counseling, and curriculum.

Amid the increasing interest in medical humanities education, this study developed a medical humanities course that utilized design thinking to foster creative thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills that pre-medical students should possess. The course’s efficacy was assessed by evaluating improvements in core design thinking skills. The present study was conducted among 83 first-year medical students after planning and implementing a design thinking course. The reflection journals written by students along the course of the class were examined using the template analysis technique to evaluate the effectiveness of the class. The study’s primary findings showed the successful development of step-by-step medical humanities education content utilizing design thinking and its practical implementation in a class. Moreover, the course improved students’ core design thinking skills effectively, and in a balanced way. These results illustrate the effective application of design thinking in medical school through a medical humanities course. These findings indicate that a medical humanities course can help medical students showcase their abilities to collaborate and solve problems in the real world. This paper suggests the need for further research to develop a curriculum that integrates design thinking and investigate the relationship between medical students’ core competencies and design thinking-based courses.

An educational outcome cohort has been established at Keimyung University School of Medicine to help make educational policy decisions and improve educational programs based on data. The purpose of the educational outcome cohort is to support educational policy decisions for achieving graduation outcomes smoothly and to accomplish the intended human resources development of the university through objective analyses and regular monitoring, providing continuous feedback. The data collected for the educational outcome cohort include the student identifications of freshmen, entrance exam scores, premedical and medical school grades, titles and forms of student academic research, the results of psychological testing, scholarship recipient lists, volunteer clubs, and so forth. The data are collected using an information utilization agreement approved by the Institutional Review Board, and the collected data are encrypted and stored on a dedicated computer for enhanced personal information security. Proposals to access and utilize the educational outcome cohort data must be discussed and approved by the Educational Outcome Cohort Committee, which decides on the scope and method of utilization. The collected and managed educational outcome cohort data have been used to develop comparative programs to improve students’ competency and to support admission policy decisions through an analysis of the characteristics and performance of medical school students. The establishment and utilization of the educational outcome cohort will play an important role in determining the School of Medicine’s educational policies and suggesting new directions for educational policies in the future.