Current status and educational needs of early clinical exposure in Korean Medical Schools: A cross-sectional survey study

Songrim Kim; Sun Young Kyung; Kwi Hwa Park; So Jung Yune

doi:10.12669/pjms.41.2.10717

Songrim Kim Staff in the Office of Medical Education at College of Medicine, Gachon University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0553-8403
Sun Young Kyung Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at College of Medicine, Gachon University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6822-1027
Kwi Hwa Park Professor in the Department of Medical Education at College of Medicine, Gachon University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0008-2400
So Jung Yune Professor in the Department of Medical Education at School of Medicine, Pusan National University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2567-0444

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.2.10717

Keywords: Education, Clinical clerkship, Medical, Medical students, Needs assessment, Clinical clerkship, Early clinical exposure, Education, Medical, Medical students, Needs assessment

Abstract

Objective: To examine the status of early clinical exposure (ECE) programs in Korean medical schools and to determine the educational needs for ECE in undergraduate medical education.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 30 medical education experts and 65 professors from 30 medical schools across Korea were surveyed about the status of ECE programs in medical schools and the educational needs for ECE. This survey was conducted between January and March 2024 using Google Forms, and the collected data were analyzed using frequency analysis.

Results: Out of the 30 participating medical schools, 70% had implemented ECE programs. In most schools, ECE programs were required courses and offered from the first year of pre-medical phase to the second year of medical phase. Among 95 respondents, 88.4% recognized the necessity of ECE programs. Most respondents considered “understanding the role of a doctor” an essential objective (70 out of 95, 73.7%) and outcome (73 out of 95, 76.8%) of ECE programs. Most respondents considered “observation/field trips” and “reflection journal” as essential teaching methods (69 out of 95, 72.6%) and assessment methods (68 out of 95, 71.6%) in ECE programs, respectively. Furthermore, most respondents (68 out of 95, 71.6%) considered the “lack of educational support personnel” a concern in implementing ECE programs in medical schools.

Conclusions: This study sheds light on the status of ECE programs in Korean medical schools. Additionally, its results regarding the educational needs for ECE have implications for the future implementation of ECE programs in Korean medical schools.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.2.10717

How to cite this: Kim S, Kyung SY, Park KH, Yune SJ. Current status and educational needs of early clinical exposure in Korean Medical Schools: A cross-sectional survey study. Pak J Med Sci. 2025;41(2):349-354. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.2.10717

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.