• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.121-128
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• 2017

When a new educational system for college students in South Korea was established in 1946, the National Committee for Educational Planning adopted a 6-year curriculum of medical education, consisting of a 2-year premedical component and a 4-year medical component. For more than half a century, the premedical curriculum has received little attention. However, it is very important for premedical students to have a range of experiences that could be useful in their future medical careers. In 2005, another change was made to the system of medical education, in which medical schools without a 2-year premedical curriculum were established. This began to stimulate interest in premedical education, and more and more professors have become interested in premedical education as 6-year medical colleges have become more popular than before. Since 2015, the Education and Cultural Center of the Korean Association of Medical Colleges has annually hosted a workshop for redesigning premedical education; these workshops quickly fill up with registrants, reflecting the participants' lively interest in premedical education. The problems of premedical education are mostly due to students' and educators' attitudes. A more effective approach will be needed in the educational system of the future to train highly competent medical doctors. To judge whether an educational program is successful, its aims must be clearly articulated. For this reason, medical colleges must prepare premedical education curricula based on their educational aims. It is expected that the system of premedical education will be strengthened in the future due to the growing awareness of its importance.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.145-148
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• 2017

One important purpose of premedical education is to help students attain core competencies during the two-year premedical program. Since premedical curriculum is the foundation of medical education, it is necessary to develop the premedical curriculum in accordance with the overarching curriculum of a medical school. Inje University's College of Medicine (IUCM) has attempted to integrate competency-based medical education into the premedical education curriculum. The revised premedical curriculum aims to develop students' intrinsic competencies during premedical years. In an effort to do so, IUCM defined competencies for premedical education, analyzed and designed premedical courses according to the defined competencies, and suggested learner-centered instructional methods. As a result of implementing the revised premedical curriculum, students have reported both positive experiences and difficulties. Based on the results, it will be necessary to continuously improve the premedical curriculum as well as develop appropriate methods for evaluating student achievement of the defined competencies.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.115-120
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• 2017

Despite the importance of how the premedical education curriculum is organized, the basic direction of the curriculum has not been evaluated at a fundamental level. In order to explore the basic directions of the premedical education curriculum, this study examined medical education as a university education, the historical basis of premedical education, and the direction of the premedical education curriculum. Historically, as medical education was incorporated into the university education system, premedical education developed based on basic science and liberal arts education. Accordingly, the direction of the premedical education curriculum began to split into two approaches: one believing in a basic science-based education intended to serve as the foundation of medical training, and the other believing in a liberal arts-based education intended to cultivate the qualities of a doctor. In recent years, however, the binary division in the direction of premedical education has ceased to exist, and the paradigm has now shifted to an agreement that premedical education must cultivate the basic scientific competence required for learning medical knowledge as well as the social qualities that a doctor should have, which are cultivated through the liberal arts. Furthermore, it has been asserted that the direction of premedical education should move toward the qualities that will be required in the future. With the fourth industrial revolution underway, the role of doctors is now being re-examined. This means that today's medical education must change in a future-oriented way, and the direction of the premedical education curriculum must be on the same page.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.149-151
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• 2017

The educational goal of premedical education is to provide the desired college-level training in liberal arts as well as sciences, and to equip students with a basis for future medical studies. The purpose of this study was to introduce a premedical curriculum at Chonnam National University Medical School and to provide baseline data for developing an improved premedical curriculum. The reformed premedical curriculum has been followed since 2017. Formal premedical curriculum consists of basic education and character education through liberal arts study and major courses related to medical education. In addition to the formal premedical curriculum, students are supported through various programs that help develop interpersonal and intrapersonal competences.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.134-137
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• 2017

The main points of issue with the former premedical curriculum of Seoul National University College of Medicine (SNUCM) were the absence of educational objectives, decline in student motivation caused by uniform education, students' lack of a sense of belonging, and lack of humanistic education. In accordance with these issues, there were five aspects considered for the improvement of the premedical curriculum: reform based on the newly established educational objectives that corresponds with the 6-year medical school curriculum as a whole, expansion of elective courses and the development of personalized curriculum for the improvement of students' learning motives, expansion of social sciences and humanities curriculum for the development of students' capabilities as good doctors, active participation of medical professors in premedical education, and expansion of informal education and the student support program. According to the assessment done after the implementation of the reformed curriculum, premedical students were gratified with its establishment and management of multifarious liberal arts and major subjects. In preparation of the more rigorous entrance quota of the premedical school at SNUCM, there is ongoing reform of required major subjects and establishment of new subjects in the premedical curriculum in pursuit of unity with the 6-year medical curriculum. Moreover, there is ongoing development of an e-portfolio system for the association of premedical and medical education, integration of formal and informal curriculum, and reinforcement of student observation and formative evaluation. Further discussion on the assessment and betterment of premedical curriculum is needed.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.32-43
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• 2018

Although student research programs have been implemented worldwide, research programs during premedical school have unique characteristics. The purpose of this study is to evaluate factors that influence the effects of premedical school research programs. Eighty second-year premedical students at Pusan National University were included in the study. Effect elements and influential factors were extracted through reference reviews and in-depth individual interviews. A Likert scale questionnaire was developed using the extracted elements and factors, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to analyze the reliability of the survey. The mean value and the standard deviation for each question were calculated to evaluate education effectiveness and learning satisfaction, and the influence of each factor on effect was analyzed using correlation analysis. Students' research skills and knowledge were improved in the short term; however, interest in research or in a career as a researcher did not increase. Student interest, participation, and contributions were important factors. Among professors, passion, considerateness, and teaching method including the level of lesson were influential factors. Implementation of curriculum and support and guidance were influential as well, whereas evaluation system was not a factor. To improve student research programs, several factors that influence education effectiveness and learning satisfaction should be considered.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.129-133
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• 2017

Premed education in the college of medicine at the Catholic University of Korea aims to promote student creativity and excellence in accordance with the mission of the college: to have a sense of calling, leadership, and competency. The Catholic Medical College premed curriculum includes 75 credits which are composed of 65 credits for required courses and 10 credits for elective courses. It consists of courses in basic science, medical science, liberal arts and humanities (premedical OMNIBUS). It also involves community programs in 'Vision and Mission,' 'Leadership Training,' and 'Academic Conference.' In addition, students are allowed self-directed choice of their courses and learning for one quarter.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.47-61
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• 2013

Objectives : This study was aimed at exploring career-related characteristics of premedical students in Korean Medicine college and those relationships with career development readiness and vocational value. Methods : A total of 140 premedical students participated in the survey. The questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics and career-related characteristics such as motive for career choice, specialty preference after college graduation, and school life adaptation. Also they responded in the web-survey of career development readiness inventory and vocational value inventory developed by Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training. Eight items of motive for career choice were collected from the pilot study from 70 premedical students. Results : 'Job stability' was the top motive for career choice(25.5%). The average college life adaptation score was relatively low(13.7) : higher in male(14.3) and the early career decision group(14.2) than female (12.9) and late decision group(12.9), which was statistically significant(p=0.019 and p=0.036, respectively) in the subgroup analyses. The result of career development readiness inventory showed that 'self-knowledge' (79.3) and 'confidence on career decision' (78.6) were the two highest, which is similar to the result of the vocational value inventory ('fulfilling abilities' and 'self-improvement'). More characteristics were also described. Conclusions : The results showed that Korean Medicine premedical students have high vocational identity. This study suggested that more specified studies for identifying career-related characteristics for Korean Medical students should be conducted in order to design systematic and professional medical education programs.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.83-89
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to elucidate to what extent the goals of the leadership training program implemented in a medical college were achieved. Study subjects consisted of 74 first-year premedical students at the College of Medicine of The Catholic University of Korea. All participants completed two questionnaires: an 18-item self-leadership questionnaire asking self-expectation, rehearsal, goal setting, self-rewards, self-judgment and constructive thinking, and a 28-item self-efficacy questionnaire asking preference toward difficult work, efficacy of self-control, and confidence before and after the leadership training program. Students also competed a program satisfaction survey after the program. The collected data were analyzed with a paired t-test, descriptive statistics by IBM SPSS ver. 20.0 (IBM Co., Armonk, NY, USA). Students' overall satisfaction with the program scored 4.06 out of 5. The scores of self-leadership and self-efficacy increased after the leadership training program except for 'confidence' in self-efficacy. The results indicate that an intensive leadership program in a short period of time could help to enhance social competencies such as communication skills, empathy, self-reflection, and teamwork of premedical students.

• Korean journal of medical education
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.279-281
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• 2018