PURPOSE: We aimed to explore medical students’ online learning patterns and needs by analyzing data obtained from an e-learning portal of Korean medical schools. METHODS: Data were obtained from learning resources and registered users of the e-learning portal by the consortium of 36 Korean medical schools, e-MedEdu (www.mededu.or.kr) over a period of 10 years. Data analytics were performed of its contents and usage patterns using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The website currently has over 1,600 resources, which have almost tripled over the past decade, and 28,000 registered users. Two hundred and twenty medical faculty have contributed the resources; a majority of them were clinical cases and video clips, which accounted for 30% and 27% of all resources, respectively. The website has received increasing hits over the past decade; annual website hits increased from 80,000 in 2009 to over 300,000 in 2018. The number of hits on resources varied across resource types and subjects; 90% of all website hits were on online videos, and 28% of them originated from mobile devices. Among the online videos, those on procedural skills received more hits than those on patient encounters and video lectures. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate the increasing use of e-learning in medical education in Korea over the past decade. Our study also shows a wide disparity in the frequency of use in learning resources across resource types and subjects, which have implications for improvements in the design and development of learning resources to better meet medical students’ curricular needs and their learning styles.
Education, Medical ; Faculty, Medical ; Humans ; Korea ; Learning ; Lectures ; Schools, Medical

Purpose: We sought to determine the impact of medical students’ prior experience of assessing peers in the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) on their clinical performance. Methods: Forty-two year 4 medical students participated in an OSCE comprised of three 10-minute stations (syncope, hemoptysis, and back pain). Each student took part in two iterations of the three‐station OSCE as either the examiner or examinee, and student performance was assessed using a checklist by a medical faculty member and a student simultaneously. Students were randomly assigned to two groups and their OSCE scores were compared. Students in the control group were tested at a station first and then participated at the same station as a peer examiner, and those in the intervention group participated as a peer examiner first and then as an examinee. Moreover, student OSCE scores rated by peer examiners were compared with those awarded by faculty to evaluate the accuracy of peer assessment. Following the test, students completed surveys on their perceptions of the usefulness of this formative OSCE. Results: Student overall OSCE scores did not differ between groups. Students in the study group performed better at the hemoptysis station (p<0.001), but poorer at the syncope station (p<0.01). Student performances at the back-pain station were similar in these two groups (p=0.48). OSCE scores rated by faculty and peer examiners were moderately negatively associated at the hemoptysis station (p<0.05), but no such association was observed at the other two stations. This trend was similar in peer examiners who were high-achievers and low-achievers in OSCEs. Students showed positive perceptions of their experience with this OSCE. Conclusion Student experience as peer assessor offers a feasible means of providing them greater access to OSCEs without consuming more resources, although its impact on enhancing performance in the OSCE is likely to differ across stations.

PURPOSE: We aimed to explore medical students’ online learning patterns and needs by analyzing data obtained from an e-learning portal of Korean medical schools. METHODS Data were obtained from learning resources and registered users of the e-learning portal by the consortium of 36 Korean medical schools, e-MedEdu (

Purpose: This study aims to investigate medical faculties’ perceptions and current practice of using e-learning resources, needs and suggestions for more effective use of such resources, and future directions of e-learning in medical education. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on full-time faculty members who were registered users of the e-learning portal of the consortium of Korean medical schools. Participants were invited to an online survey containing 45 items that addressed their perceptions and use of e-learning resources, and their predictions of future use. Descriptive analysis and reliability analysis were conducted as well as a thematic analysis of qualitative data. Results: Ninety faculty members from 31 medical schools returned the questionnaires. Participants positively perceived e-learning resources and that they predicted their use would become increasingly popular. Still, only half of the respondents were using e-learning resources for teaching and agreed that they were willing to share their e-learning resources. Our study illustrates several barriers inhibit faculty use and sharing of e-learning resources, and a need for a more comprehensive, better-organized resource repository. Participants also pointed out the needs for more resources on multimedia assessment items, clinical videos, and virtual patients. Conclusion Our study sheds light on medical faculty needs for institutional support and faculty development programs on e-learning, and institutional policies that address faculty concerns regarding ownership, intellectual property rights, and so forth on creating and sharing such resources. Collaborations among medical schools are suggested for creating a better organized around learning outcomes and more comprehensive repository of resources.

PURPOSE: Ubiquitous testing has the potential to affect medical education by enhancing the authenticity of the assessment using multimedia items. This study explored medical students' experience with ubiquitous testing and its impact on student learning. METHODS: A cohort (n=48) of third-year students at a medical school in South Korea participated in this study. The students were divided into two groups and were given different versions of 10 content-matched items: one in text version (the text group) and the other in multimedia version (the multimedia group). Multimedia items were delivered using tablets. Item response analyses were performed to compare item characteristics between the two versions. Additionally, focus group interviews were held to investigate the students' experiences of ubiquitous testing. RESULTS: The mean test score was significantly higher in the text group. Item difficulty and discrimination did not differ between text and multimedia items. The participants generally showed positive responses on ubiquitous testing. Still, they felt that the lectures that they had taken in preclinical years did not prepare them enough for this type of assessment and clinical encounters during clerkships were more helpful. To be better prepared, the participants felt that they needed to engage more actively in learning in clinical clerkships and have more access to multimedia learning resources. CONCLUSION: Ubiquitous testing can positively affect student learning by reinforcing the importance of being able to understand and apply knowledge in clinical contexts, which drives students to engage more actively in learning in clinical settings.
Adult ; *Attitude ; Clinical Clerkship ; *Computers ; *Education, Medical, Undergraduate ; Educational Measurement/*methods ; Female ; Humans ; *Learning ; Male ; *Multimedia ; Perception ; Problem-Based Learning ; Republic of Korea ; Schools, Medical ; *Students, Medical ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: This study investigated characteristics of medical teachers who have adopted student-centered teaching methods into their teaching. METHODS: A 24-item questionnaire consisted of respondent backgrounds, his or her use of student-centered teaching methods, and awareness of the school's educational objectives and curricular principles was administered of faculty members at a private medical school in Korea. Descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were conducted to compare faculty use of student-centered approaches across different backgrounds and awareness of curricular principles. RESULTS: Overall response rate was 70% (N=140/200), approximately 25% (n=34) of whom were using student-centered teaching methods. Distributions in the faculty use of student-centered teaching methods were significantly higher among basic sciences faculty (versus clinical sciences faculty), with teaching experiences of over 10 years (versus less than 10 years), and who were aware of the school's educational objectives and curricular principles. CONCLUSION: Our study indicates differences in medical faculty's practice of student-centered teaching across disciplines, teaching experiences, and their understanding of the school's educational objectives curricular principles. These findings have implications for faculty development and institutional support to better promote faculty use of student-centered teaching approaches.
Faculty, Medical ; Humans ; Korea ; Problem-Based Learning ; Schools, Medical ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Teaching*

This study examined doctors' images represented in the Korean press to identify overall public perceptions of doctors and to suggest areas for improvement to enhance their image. All news reports published in the two major Korean daily newspapers between years 2011 and 2015 related to doctors and the practice of medicine were searched and collected. The news reports were categorized into the five competency domains in the Korean doctor's role (i.e., patient care, communication and cooperation, social accountability, professionalism, and education and research). Each news item was coded as being either positive or negative and was given a score regarding the extent to which positive or negative image that it represents of doctors using the Doctor Image Scale (DIS) score. A total of 314 news reports were collected, a majority of which were on patient care (36%), professionalism (33%), and social accountability (23%). Positive stories slightly outnumbered negative ones (56% vs. 44%). The largest number of positive news reports was in patient care (n=82); negative news reports most frequently appeared in professionalism (n=99) and patient care (n=32). The total DIS score was also positive (+28): the highest positive DIS score was in social accountability (+164); the highest negative DIS score was obtained in professionalism (−226). This study revealed overall positive portrayals of doctors in the Korean press, yet doctors need to better comply with regulations and ethical guidelines and enhance their medical knowledge and clinical skills and to improve their image.
Clinical Competence ; Education ; Patient Care ; Periodicals ; Physician's Role ; Professionalism ; Republic of Korea ; Social Control, Formal ; Social Responsibility

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to verify the relationship among depression, school adjustment, parent-child bonding, parental control and smartphone addiction, and to identify factors which influence smartphone addiction in adolescents. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used, with a convenience sample of 183 middle school students from 3 middle schools. Data collection was conducted through self-report questionnaires from April to May, 2017. Data were analyzed using χ² test, Fisher's exact test, t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation coefficient analysis, and binary logistic regression with SPSS Ver. 21.0. RESULTS: The mean score for smartphone addiction was 29.40. Of the adolescents, 21.3% were in the smartphone addiction risk group. Logistic regression analysis showed that gender (OR=7.09, 95% Cl: 2.57~19.52), school life (OR=0.86, 95% Cl: 0.79~0.93), smartphone usage time (OR=1.32, 95% Cl: 1.04~1.66), and parental control (OR=4.70, 95% Cl: 1.04~21.29) were effect factors for the smartphone addiction risk group. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that school satisfaction was an important factor in adolescents' smartphone addiction. Control oriented parent management of adolescents' smartphone use did not reduce the risk of smartphone addiction and may have worsen the addiction. Future research is needed to improve understanding of how teachers and parents will manage their adolescents' use of smartphones.
Adolescent* ; Behavior, Addictive ; Data Collection ; Depression ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Parents ; Smartphone*

PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a new teaching segment, named "problem-based clinical teaching," for the clinical clerkship in the undergraduate medical curriculum. METHODS: Students were given a problem weekly on a case that they had seen during their rotation. The problem was provided by the instructor from a case that had already been diagnosed but came up with an additional problem that called for further investigation by the attending physician. The task for the students was to conduct the investigation and discuss the problem with the attending physician. A survey was conducted of a class of 3rd year medical students (n=43) who completed clerkships in internal medicine to measure the level of student engagement in the problem-based clinical teaching segment and the students' overall perceptions of this new teaching method. RESULTS: Students generally agreed with the statements that they were actively engaged in the learning during the problem-based clinical teaching session. The students also perceived that this teaching session helped them acquire a deeper understanding of the knowledge and that it enhanced their problem solving skills and motivation. CONCLUSION: Problem-based clinical teaching is a useful educational method to apply problem-based learning in clinical clerkship settings.
Clinical Clerkship ; Clinical Competence ; Curriculum ; Education, Medical, Undergraduate ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Learning ; Models, Educational ; Motivation ; Pilot Projects ; Porphyrins ; Problem Solving ; Problem-Based Learning ; Students, Medical

PURPOSE: This study aimed to describe the cultural competence among community health practitioners (CHPs). METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used with a convenience sample of 257 CHPs. Data collection was conducted with a structured questionnaire, including Cultural Competence Assessment. Data were analyzed by t-test and ANOVA with the SPSS/WIN 17.0 program. RESULTS: Most participants reported a moderate level of cultural competence (M=3.0, SD=0.41). Scores for culturally competent behaviors were high (M=3.4, SD=0.48) and cultural knowledge scores were low (M=2.6, SD=0.54). Those CHPs who were living with their family, were working in rural area, and had more opportunities to contact with multicultural patients and experience abroad showed significantly higher cultural competence. CONCLUSION: The findings support the need for future education and training to enhance CHPs' cultural competence.
Community Health Nursing ; Cultural Competency ; Data Collection ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires