PURPOSE: Medical professionalism has become a very popular theme in medical education since 2000. Despite the high interest, not alot of variety of studies have been done. In particular, it is very difficult to find a study focusing on the professionalism level of medical students; and none exists in Korea. The purpose of this study is to examine the level of medical professionalism in medical students and the differences between the academic years. METHODS: Of the 41 medical schools in Korea, eight were sampled randomly. From these, 2,590 medical students were finally chosen for the survey. Independent t-test and one-way Anova were used to analyse the differences between the academic years. RESULTS: The level of medical professionalism (medical knowledge, skills and attitude) of premedical students and medical students all appeared to be below average or average. For premedical students, differences were seen in 'professional knowledge' but still at a below average level. By graduation, medical students showed an overall increase in all three domains of medical professionalism, especially in 'professional attitude'. Their scores, however, did not reach more than average. CONCLUSION: There are specific areas of weaknesses in medical professionalism in students; and as their level of professionalism was not satisfactory even by the time of graduation, medical educators need to reconsider the present medical professionalism curriculum and investigate ways to improve the level of medical professionalism in medical students.
Curriculum ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Korea ; Schools, Medical ; Self-Assessment ; Students, Medical ; Students, Premedical

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have identified more than 400 distinct genetic loci associated with diabetes and nearly 120 loci for fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and fasting insulin level to date. However, genetic risk factors for the longitudinal deterioration of FPG have not been thoroughly evaluated. We aimed to identify genetic variants associated with longitudinal change of FPG over time. Methods: We used two prospective cohorts in Korean population, which included a total of 10,528 individuals without T2DM. GWAS of repeated measure of FPG using linear mixed model was performed to investigate the interaction of genetic variants and time, and meta-analysis was conducted. Genome-wide complex trait analysis was used for heritability calculation. In addition, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis was performed using the Genotype-Tissue Expression project. Results: A small portion (4%) of the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) interaction with time explained the total phenotypic variance of longitudinal change in FPG. A total of four known genetic variants of FPG were associated with repeated measure of FPG levels. One SNP (rs11187850) showed a genome-wide significant association for genetic interaction with time. The variant is an eQTL for NOC3 like DNA replication regulator (NOC3L) gene in pancreas and adipose tissue. Furthermore, NOC3L is also differentially expressed in pancreatic β-cells between subjects with or without T2DM. However, this variant was not associated with increased risk of T2DM nor elevated FPG level. Conclusion We identified rs11187850, which is an eQTL of NOC3L, to be associated with longitudinal change of FPG in Korean population.