Since the currently increasing proportion of problem-solving test items in both National Board of Medical Licensure and Specialty Board Examinations, valid measurement of the examinee's professional c ompetence becomes the utmost concern in various quallification examinations in medical community. However, appropriate guideline with regard to its construction techniques has not been referred in the literature. This article identified the existing misconcept in test item construction among facullty members and described methods to upgrade the knowledge level of individual items. The author developed the baseline skills accompanied with examples for construction of test items in each determined level of knowledge, and introduced the conversion technique of recall-type items to problem-solving ones. Construction of more practical test items instead of theoretical items was emphasized with/without providing raw data or pictorials. Replacement of simpe, recall-type of test items with problem-solving ones in written examinations should be encouraged not only in the National Licesure and Specialty Board Examinations but also during every MD-programs. It is also stressed that the examination should reflect the situation much close to the real clinical setting by application of raw data/pictorials identical in practical clinical and laboratory situations which encourage the examinees to reinforce their learning habit form theory-based learning to problem-based ones.
Learning ; Licensure, Medical ; Specialty Boards

Since the late 19(th) century, great strides have been made towards advancements in the field of urology, with respect to clinical activity, education and research; therefore, pediatric urology has become an important part of urology. In this article, the historical developmental process of pediatric urology was reviewed, including its legitimate development into an independent section within the urological field as well as achieving an independent role in the urological society. Also, the developmental process of pediatric urology was reviewed in relation to the organization of academic societies and the creation of subspecialty certification. In addition, the development of pediatric urology was further discussed by reviewing the evolution of management for a typical pediatric urological disease, vesicoureteral reflux. From its early history, pediatric urology has played an important role, and efforts to achieve advancements are still being made. As seen from the historical changes in the management concept of vesicoureteral reflux, current medical knowledge can sometimes, at a later date, be proven wrong. An effective way to stay abreast of the state-of-the-art medical standards and knowledge, as well as techniques, is the participation in local and international academic activities, which provide the opportunities for exchanging clinical experience and knowledge. Also, changes in the system, such as the enforcement of recertification of a specialty board, may contribute to maintaining or upgrading the standards of urology as a whole.
Certification ; Education ; Specialty Boards ; Urologic Diseases ; Urology* ; Vesico-Ureteral Reflux

This article provides an overview of medical ethics education for practicing doctors in Korea, focusing on its aims, objectives, content, pedagogical methods, educators, and key issues and challenges for future development. Education on medical ethics for practicing doctors in Korea started relatively recently on a small scale, based on the initiative of a few specialty boards. Currently, no formal aims and objectives for medical ethics education for practicing doctors have been proposed, and no formalized curricula have been developed by any specialty boards or by the Korean Medical Association. In the educational programs that currently exist, lectures are the predominant teaching method, and only a few educators who are doctors specializing in medical ethics deliver all those lectures. Thus, there are many issues and challenges in the Korean medical environment that must be thoroughly investigated and overcome. Nevertheless, medical ethics is an integral part of the medical profession and should be taught at all levels of training, including undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate.
Curriculum ; Education* ; Ethics, Medical* ; Ethics, Professional ; Korea ; Lectures ; Specialty Boards ; Teaching

This article provides an overview of medical ethics education for practicing doctors in Korea, focusing on its aims, objectives, content, pedagogical methods, educators, and key issues and challenges for future development. Education on medical ethics for practicing doctors in Korea started relatively recently on a small scale, based on the initiative of a few specialty boards. Currently, no formal aims and objectives for medical ethics education for practicing doctors have been proposed, and no formalized curricula have been developed by any specialty boards or by the Korean Medical Association. In the educational programs that currently exist, lectures are the predominant teaching method, and only a few educators who are doctors specializing in medical ethics deliver all those lectures. Thus, there are many issues and challenges in the Korean medical environment that must be thoroughly investigated and overcome. Nevertheless, medical ethics is an integral part of the medical profession and should be taught at all levels of training, including undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate.
Curriculum ; Education* ; Ethics, Medical* ; Ethics, Professional ; Korea ; Lectures ; Specialty Boards ; Teaching

Subspecialty board certification is a post-graduate program in which clinicians can acquire the qualifications for special areas or techniques, after they have received a board certification in a specialty in clinical medicine. Considering the trend of increasingly sub-classified and professionalized medicine and the higher demand on specialized medical services, introduction of subspecialty board certification is inevitable. However, given the characteristics of the medical environment in Korea, such as the medical payment system, a possibility of undesirable outcomes should not be overlooked. An imprudent administration of the specialty board system would cause conflict and split within communities of medical professionals and also produce confusion among medical consumers. Accordingly, the establishment of subspecialty board system should proceed based on academic communications as well as organic collaboration with the parent academic society and/or the relevant academic societies. Individuals can submit an application for a subspecialty board qualification under the agreement of specialized academic societies which have already been authorized, but the authorization of the societies is determined following a rigorous assessment by the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences (KAMS). An active intervention by KAMS is essential for maintaining the quality of specialty board system and preventing imprudent administration. KAMS will make the best effort to prevent distribution of unauthorized certificates and to rectify rational implementation of the subspecialty board certification system.
Accreditation ; Certification ; Clinical Medicine ; Cooperative Behavior ; Humans ; Korea ; Parents ; Specialty Boards

Both MD and postgraduate education programs in Korea have been established and conducted independently with considerable lack of close coordination for the forthcoming programs from the designing stag e; this phenomenon has apparently led to a significant retardation of continuing medical education (CME) together with ignorance of competency development by self learning in medical schools. It was further triggered with teacher-centered learning epxperience during the medical school life. Postgraduate institutional education programs were denatured by a simultaneous availability of both Ph.D. and clinical subspecialty training programs, and facilitated decrease of relevance on CME. This article summarized the growing patterns of CME programs in Korea, and described the problems of current undergraduate and postgraduate education based in terms of competency required for CME program. The followings recommendations were specially stressed to promote CME in Korean medical society; (1) providing an opportunity for medical school students to experience the situations closely similar to that in the postgraduate practice during the MD course, (2) earlier introduction of recertification and/or relicensure mechanisms in both medical licensure or specialty board qualification, (3) expansion of medical school's role to CME for their graduates, and (4) emphasis of CME activity by strengthening of accreditation of the training hospitals.
Accreditation ; Education* ; Education, Medical* ; Education, Medical, Continuing* ; Humans ; Korea ; Learning ; Licensure, Medical ; Schools, Medical ; Societies, Medical ; Specialty Boards

Certification ; economics ; standards ; Clinical Competence ; economics ; standards ; Education, Medical, Continuing ; economics ; standards ; Humans ; Specialty Boards ; United States

The Korean society is rapidly aging and the health care needs for aged people are increasing. In this context, some physicians claim to establish new medical specialty board (MSB) for geriatric medical experts but also MSB for primary medical care specialists, clinical pharmacologists, and public health experts. In Korea, basic concept for the specialty board system is still under debates and the legal support for the system is poor. At present, doctors with MSBs in private sectors supply 92.4% of primary medical care but the National Health Care System requires more primary care physicians than specialists in Korea. Therefore, the government must invest in the education of doctors more to improve the public health care system. The proposal of the new MSB for geriatric medicine must be gradually developed according to the national long-term health plan, social needs, and national budget for the public benefit. Please stop discussing unprepared new MSBs.
Aging ; Budgets ; Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Humans ; Korea ; Physicians, Primary Care ; Private Sector ; Public Health ; Specialization ; Specialty Boards*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Several factors affecting the severity and outcomes of diverticulitis have been reported, but there is little research on physician specialty related with this disease. Therefore, we evaluated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of diverticulitis depending on physician's specialty. METHODS: Medical records of 239 patients, who had been hospitalized with first-diagnosed acute colonic diverticulitis at Kyung Hee University Hospital in Gang Dong (Seoul, Korea) from June 2006 to December 2012, were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were classified according to whether they had been managed by gastroenterologists or not. Clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes were compared between two groups. RESULTS: Of these 239 patients, 38 (15.9%) patients were treated by a gastroenterologist and 201 (84.1%) patients by a non-gastroenterologist. Clinical characteristics such as age, gender, body mass index, comorbidity, medication, laboratory results, recurrence and complication were not significantly different between two groups. However, right-sided diverticulitis predominated in the non-gastroenterologist group (79% vs. 91%, P=0.028). From the sub-group analysis of uncomplicated diverticulitis, intravenous antibiotics was used for a shorter period of time by gastroenterologists than non-gastroenterologists (3.3+/-1.9 days vs. 4.4+/-2.8 days, P=0.032). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the 3 day administration of intravenous antibiotics significantly depended on the physician's specialty (odds ratio 7.984, 95% confidence interval 1.990-32.043, P=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the duration of intravenous antibiotics for treating uncomplicated colonic diverticulitis was shortened by gastroenterology specialists without increasing operation or recurrence.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Body Mass Index ; Colon ; Comorbidity ; Diverticulitis ; Diverticulitis, Colonic ; Gastroenterology ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Specialization ; Specialty Boards ; Treatment Outcome

While there is an ethical obligation to improve clinical outcomes by developing better therapies, surgical innovation has largely progressed without the strict regulations required of novel pharmaceutical products. We explore the reasons why new surgical techniques are frequently introduced without the benefit of randomised controlled trials, and present an approach to the ethical evaluation of novel surgical procedures.
Biomedical Research ; ethics ; Clinical Competence ; Diffusion of Innovation ; Ethics, Medical ; General Surgery ; ethics ; methods ; standards ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Medical Audit ; Medicine ; Singapore ; Specialty Boards