Challenges and progress of clinical education in Korea

ABSTRACT

Patient consumerism, government regulations, health financial imperatives, litigation, the explosion of medical knowledge, and rapid technical advancements are among the challenges threatening the environment of clinical education. Moreover, in Korea, there has been an uncontrolled trend toward every doctor being a specialist, which causes not only the medical service system to be highly consuming but also the effective clinical education for primary care competency to become compromised. The competency-based clinical curriculum of the undergraduate urgently needs refinement and it must be connected to the post-graduate medical education and continuous professional development programs. The essential competencies should encompass communication, collaboration, management, social accountability, professionalism, and education, as well as patient care. We should apply the adult-learning pedagogy to the clinical teaching and assessment in terms of requiring minimal outcomes for primary care physicians, self-study using mobile information applications, portfolios with reflection, one-on-one preceptors with microteaching skills, inter- and multi- professional education, performance assessment, simulation-based education, workplace-based evaluation, and so on. Coming to a national consensus of supporting and advancing clinical education is critical for the purpose of meeting the medico-health welfare challenges of the super-aged society coming in the near future.