Desenmascarando a los impostores: Los médicos profesionales y su lucha contra los falsos médicos en Perú / Unmasking impostors: Professional physicians and their struggle against fake doctors in Peru

RESUMEN La caracterización de sanadores no-titulados como "charlatanes" o "impostores" ha influido notablemente en cómo han sido percibidos por la opinión pública y en las investigaciones académicas. Se creó, entonces, una división entre los médicos profesionales y aquellos que adquirieron su conocimiento de modo tradicional y no-académico. Este artículo cuestiona la supuesta división entre dichos especialistas en el campo de la salud para ofrecer un cuadro más complejo y rico de prácticas locales a partir del caso peruano. A partir, sobre todo, de correspondencia de la Facultad de Medicina de Lima y de avisos en periódicos, reconstruimos la dinámica de las autoridades médicas en sus intentos, muchas veces infructuosos, de contener y excluir a sanadores de origen asiático, europeo o local. Para ello, estudiamos dos artefactos diseñados para legitimar y monitorear a los médicos formados profesionalmente: los títulos o diplomas y las listas de graduados, predecesores de nuestros modernos documentos de identidad y bases de datos.

ABSTRACT The characterization of non-professional healers as "quacks" or "impostors" has influenced much of how such actors have been perceived by public opinion and in academic research. As a result of this, a divide has emerged between professional physicians, on the one hand, and those who acquired their knowledge in a traditional and non-academic way, on the other. This work questions the alleged divide between these two groups in the health field in order to offer a more complex and richer picture of local practices in Peru. Based mainly on correspondence from the Faculty of Medicine in Lima and newspaper ads, we reconstructed the attempts made by medical authorities to contain and exclude healers of Asian, European, or local backgrounds, many of which failed. For this reason, we studied two specific devices designed to legitimate and monitor physicians trained professionally: degrees or diplomas and lists of graduates, both of which are predecessors to our current identification cards and databases.

Revalidación de títulos médicos extranjeros: eficacia y eficiencia de un examen colaborativo y estandarizado / A collaborative objective structured clinical examination for title revalidation by foreign medical graduates in Chile

Background: Title revalidation of foreign medical graduates to practice medicine in Chile is a complex and expensive process. According to the legislation they are required to approve the Unique National Exam of Medical Knowledge (EUNACOM), which has a theoretical and a practical section. Aim: To demonstrate that a collaborative and standardized examination of the practical section of EUNACOM is more effective and efficient than traditional practical examinations. Material and Methods: The faculties of Medicine of the Catholic University of Chile, University of Chile and University of Concepción were associated to implement an examination proposal, framed in the legislation. The EUNACOM board supported and funded the initiative which consisted in the implementation of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for each basic specialty of medicine, applied to 40 designated candidates. This format was selected because of the wide experience and evidence at the international level in the certification of medical professionals. Results: A collaborative and standardized OSCE reduces to less than half the time spent by examiners, providing more evidence of validity, reliability and objectivity. It also allows to visualize the real costs per applicant, which proved to be higher than those currently charged by EUNACOM, but comparatively lower than the examination used in the United States. Conclusions: A collaborative OSCE responds to the ethical principle of justice by being more valid, reliable, objective and cost efficient.

Is a medical humanities test needed in the National Medical Licensing Examination of Korea? Opinions of medical students and physician writers (secondary publication) / 보건의료교육평가

The purpose of this study was to examine the opinions of medical students and physician writers regarding the medical humanities as a subject and its inclusion in the medical school curriculum. Furthermore, we addressed whether an assessment test should be added to the National Medical Licensing Examination of Korea (KMLE). A total of 192 medical students at Inha University and 39 physician writers registered with the Korean Association of Physician Essayists and the Korean Association of Physician Poets participated in this study. They were asked to answer a series of questionnaires. Most medical students (59%) and all physician writers (100%) answered that the medical humanities should be included in the medical school curriculum to train good physicians. They thought that the KMLE did not currently include an assessment of the medical humanities (medical students 69%, physician writers 69%). Most physician writers (87%; Likert scale, 4.38+/-0.78) felt that an assessment of the medical humanities should be included in the KMLE. Half of the medical students (51%; Likert scale, 2.51+/-1.17) were against including it in the KMLE, which they would have to pass after several years of study. For the preferred field of assessment, medical ethics was the most commonly endorsed subject (medical students 59%, physician writers 39%). The most frequently preferred evaluation method was via an interview (medical students 45%, physician writers 33%). In terms of the assessment of the medical humanities and the addition of this subject to the KMLE, an interview-based evaluation should be developed.