OBJECTIVES: A Womans University College of Medicine faces curriculum reform in 2020. To determine what reforms are needed in the premedical curriculum, a needs assessment was conducted.METHODS: This study utilizes qualitative study method. A focus group interview was conducted with four students who completed premedical courses from November to December 2018. Interviews were conducted in two groups by grade level, and each interview was recorded. After transcribing the recorded contents, four researchers analyzed the data using conventional content analysis.RESULTS: Students chose A Womans University College of Medicine considering their future careers as female medical professionals and other considerations such as scholarships. The students expected diverse experiences, exchanges with students in different departments, and fusion of medicine with other fields during their premedical years. Overall, these expectations were met during the course, but individual needs for customized education, such as liberal arts, were unmet. In general, students' attitudes toward premedical courses were very motivated and they actively used resources provided by the university.CONCLUSION: Qualitative research can provide a better understanding of quantitative data, such as a student survey performed to prepare for curriculum reform. Based on this understanding, the curriculum will be reformed to reflect the educational needs of students, to motivate students and to provide satisfactory education.
Curriculum ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Methods ; Needs Assessment ; Program Evaluation ; Qualitative Research ; Students, Premedical

Since the residency training program in internal medicine changed from a four-year to a three-year program in 2017 in Korea, issues of an optimal training program for the gastrointestinal (GI) fellowship has arisen. Currently, the evaluation criteria for a GI fellowship in Korea include the following; 1) the total number of assigned patients during the training period, 2) the number of GI endoscopy procedures, 3) attendance at academic conferences, and 4) research presentations. However, competency-based training should be introduced in the GI fellowship training program. The current issues of GI fellowship training in Korea include the following; 1) reorganization of the GI fellowship education system and consideration of an optimal training period following the introduction of the three-year internal medicine residency training program, 2) development of a standardized, competency-based GI fellowship training program, 3) provision of a support program for instructors in GI fellowship education, 4) introduction of a mentor-mentee system, 5) introduction of an accreditation system for GI fellowship, 6) supplementation of a GI sub-specialty qualification system, and 7) provision of benefits to GI sub-specialists.
Accreditation ; Congresses as Topic ; Education* ; Endoscopy ; Fellowships and Scholarships* ; Gastroenterology ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Internship and Residency ; Korea*

There is a growing interest in gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship training in Korea and other countries. The Korean Society of Gastroenterology held an international symposium for gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship training, titled, “GI Fellow Training in Asia-Pacific Countries” on April 14, 2018. The Japanese education system was different for each hospital. The American societies for gastroenterology set up their education system together and have continued with frequent modification. The Taiwan and Singapore education systems are well organized and localized. We need a well-organized and sustainable education system for gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship training suitable for Korea.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Education* ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Gastroenterology ; Humans ; Korea ; Singapore ; Taiwan

PURPOSE: This study was performed to identify the influence of nursing professionalism and campus environment on the perception of ethical sensitivity among nursing students. METHODS: A descriptive survey design was used for this study. The participants were 323 nursing students attending four universities in Busan and Kyungnam. Data collection was conducted from November 25 to December 25, 2017 using a self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using a t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: The factors influencing ethical sensitivity of nursing students were identified as professional self-concept (β=.36), nursing role (β=.24), scholarship (β=.17), practicability (β=.17), and propriety (β=-.13). Five factors explained 40.5% of nursing students' ethical sensitivity. CONCLUSION: The results of this study can be used to develop further educational programs on nursing professionalism and campus environments for enhancement of nursing students' ethical sensitivity.
Busan ; Data Collection ; Ethics, Nursing ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Humans ; Nursing ; Professionalism ; Students, Nursing

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the interpretive performance and inter-observer agreement on digital mammographs among radiologists and to investigate whether radiologist characteristics affect performance and agreement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The test sets consisted of full-field digital mammograms and contained 12 cancer cases among 1000 total cases. Twelve radiologists independently interpreted all mammograms. Performance indicators included the recall rate, cancer detection rate (CDR), positive predictive value (PPV), sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate (FPR), and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Inter-radiologist agreement was measured. The reporting radiologist characteristics included number of years of experience interpreting mammography, fellowship training in breast imaging, and annual volume of mammography interpretation. RESULTS: The mean and range of interpretive performance were as follows: recall rate, 7.5% (3.3–10.2%); CDR, 10.6 (8.0–12.0 per 1000 examinations); PPV, 15.9% (8.8–33.3%); sensitivity, 88.2% (66.7–100%); specificity, 93.5% (90.6–97.8%); FPR, 6.5% (2.2–9.4%); and AUC, 0.93 (0.82–0.99). Radiologists who annually interpreted more than 3000 screening mammograms tended to exhibit higher CDRs and sensitivities than those who interpreted fewer than 3000 mammograms (p = 0.064). The inter-radiologist agreement showed a percent agreement of 77.2–88.8% and a kappa value of 0.27–0.34. Radiologist characteristics did not affect agreement. CONCLUSION: The interpretative performance of the radiologists fulfilled the mammography screening goal of the American College of Radiology, although there was inter-observer variability. Radiologists who interpreted more than 3000 screening mammograms annually tended to perform better than radiologists who did not.
Area Under Curve ; Breast ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Mammography ; Mass Screening ; Medical Audit ; Observer Variation ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Abdominal ultrasound examinations are performed by many gastroenterologists in clinical practice, but abdominal ultrasound education has not been included in internal medicine resident or gastroenterology fellowship training courses. Abdominal ultrasound education was established as an essential part of the resident training program in 2017, and since then interest in ultrasound has increased. An educational accreditation system for trainers of ultrasonography in the internal medicine field was developed in 2018, but accredited ultrasound trainers and equipment and space for ultrasound education are lacking. This article describes how to revitalize ultrasound education program for resident and fellowship training.
Accreditation ; Education ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Gastroenterology ; Internal Medicine ; Ultrasonography

The Education Board of Korean Society of Gastroenterology (KSG) has three missions: 1) to meet the needs of KSG members, 2) to provide educational opportunities for future members (fellows), and 3) to train world-class experts using latest knowledge. To achieve these objectives, the ‘Education Board’: 1) updates guidelines and provides academic information to KSG members, 2) provides quality education and training for gastroenterology fellows, and 3) offers opportunities to young gastroenterologists to participate in overseas training programs, such as the American Gastroenterology Association, Clinical Observation and Research Education program.
Education ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Gastroenterology ; Religious Missions

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the practices of a community meal program for older adults in rural areas during the agricultural off-season. METHODS: A survey was conducted from December 12 to December 22, 2016. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 150 cooking volunteers, who had participated in the community meal program in 50 villages. A total of 114 responses were returned from 44 villages and used for data analysis. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with the volunteers of eight villages. RESULTS: Most of the cooking volunteers were 50 years old or older and they participated in serving older adults meals for good will. The cooking volunteers perceived that the older adults in their community did not eat various foods, had difficulties in grocery shopping, and frequently consumed salty foods. During the agricultural off-season, 40.9% of villages served the older adults meals 6–7 days a week and 95.5% provided meals for lunch. An average of 21 to 40 older adults were served meals in each village. The cooking volunteers reported that the food preparation and meal service times were sufficient, recipes provided were useful, and menus met the preference of the older adults. At the end of the program, they felt proud of serving meals for older adults in the community. An increased awareness of healthy eating, interest in health, and consumption of nutritious meals, a decrease in loneliness among older adults, and the promotion of fellowship in the community were rated highly. The cooking volunteers expected additional support for cooking personnel and insisted that the program should be provided for the entire agricultural off-seasons. CONCLUSIONS: The community meal program during the agricultural off-season for the elderly in rural areas was effective in improving the dietary life of older adults, relieving their feelings of isolation, and promoting fellowship of the community. The volunteers felt workload due to a shortage of volunteers but answered that they were rewarded by helping older adults in their community.
Adult ; Aged ; Cooking ; Eating ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Humans ; Loneliness ; Lunch ; Meals ; Reward ; Statistics as Topic ; Volunteers

PURPOSE: Continuing professional development is essential for improving health care services, especially in developing countries. Most of the training programs in Mongolia were not based on a targeted needs assessment. Therefore, we aimed to apply a mixed methods design to assess the training needs of Mongolian health professions. METHODS: We conducted a needs assessment using a convergent parallel mixed methods design in two steps. The survey and interview questions were developed to identify priority areas, targeted trainees, and effective training methods. A survey on 60 respondents, 15 individual interviews, and a focus group interview with 14 participants were conducted in the first step. In the second step, 12 representatives of key stakeholders were invited to a second focus group interview. RESULTS: Current health policy areas, areas related to future national plans, and areas not currently receiving governmental or international support were suggested as the main priorities. The stakeholder suggested that trainees should be selected based on their professional experience and language level, as well as each hospital’s needs. Building teams including various professions, such as nurses, technicians, and biomedical engineers, was recommended as a way to exchange ideas with each other and to build teamwork for future collaboration. CONCLUSION: Medical training needs are dynamic and complex; therefore, a deep understanding of the context and setting is necessary. In this study, we assessed the targeted training needs of Mongolian health professions through a mixed methods design, which could be an effective way to conduct needs assessments for training programs.
Cooperative Behavior ; Delivery of Health Care ; Developing Countries ; Education ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Focus Groups ; Health Occupations ; Health Policy ; Methods ; Mongolia ; Needs Assessment ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Abdominal sepsis is mainly caused by intra-abdominal or retroperitoneal infection; therefore, early detection of the source of infection and adequate, prompt treatment are the most important contributors to patient outcomes. Because patients with sepsis often receive emergency abdominal surgery after regular hours, and most patients need critical care postoperatively, the need for personnel to specialize in these areas has emerged. The concept of acute care surgery (ACS), which includes trauma care, emergency general surgery, and surgical critical care, has been discussed since the early 2000s, and ACS fellowships were launched in the United States in 2008. ACS teams have been found to reduce mortality and complication rates, to decrease the time to surgery, and to lower financial costs in comparison to the traditional surgical model. In Korea, a regional trauma center project was started in 2012, and the government provided funding for each trauma center as part of this project. In the ACS field, the system for non-trauma emergency surgery is currently in the early stages of discussion. The need for such a system has been accelerated by the reduction of working hours per week of residents, as well as the shortage of manpower for emergency general surgery and surgical critical care on the night shift. In this review, we discuss the manpower problems that impact the treatment of abdominal emergency patients, and consider ways in which the Korean ACS system can treat these patients professionally.
Abdomen, Acute ; Abdominal Injuries ; Critical Care ; Emergencies ; Fellowships and Scholarships ; Financial Management ; Humans ; Korea ; Models, Anatomic ; Mortality ; Sepsis ; Trauma Centers ; United States