Due to the recent emphasis on the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) in healthcare fields, interest in IPE introduction is increasing in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in perceptions of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students regarding IPE. Also, the study aimed at identifying the priority rankings of educational needs by analyzing the differences between students’ perceptions of the importance level and the present level for each interprofessional competency. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a survey. A total of 1,500 questionnaires were distributed, of which 1,084 were returned (response rate, 72.3%). The participants were 559 medical, 393 nursing, and 96 pharmacy students. The questionnaire comprised items on the students’ perception of IPE and their interprofessional competency. The questionnaire comprised 12 items on their IPE perception and 9 items on their interprofessional competency. These items were developed by examining the content validity by medical educational specialists and conducting a factor analysis for verification. Data were analyzed using the t-test and ANOVA, and Borich’s formula was used to calculate the rank of educational needs.89.6% did not know the meaning of IPE. The difference in students’ perception of IPE was not significant by grade. Further, the level of IPE perception was higher for female than male students and for students who knew the meaning of IPE than those who did not. The nursing students’ perception of the importance, preference, and effectiveness of IPE was the highest, whereas medical students’ perception was the lowest. All students perceived their present level to be lower than the importance level for each interprofessional competency. Interprofessional communication skills (6.791) were highly necessary for students. These results will serve as baseline information for developing IPE programs in South Korea.

Objectives: Stress can affect learning and memories in students. Prior stress-related studies on students were conducted mainly through surveys. So, we investigated how heart rate variability (HRV)-measured stress related to academic achievement in medical students during clerkship. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. HRV measurements were performed in 97 third-year medical students during their family medicine clerkship course. Data on written and skilled exam scores of the end of the school year were also collected. We assessed association between HRV-measured stress and written/skilled exam scores. Results: Written exam scores showed a positive correlation with standard deviation of the N-N intervals (SDNN) (r=0.245, p=0.016), sympathetic nervous system/parasympathetic nervous system (SNS/PNS) balance (r=0.218, p=0.033), and stress index (r=0.381, p=0.004). Students with an unhealthy SDNN, with a dominant SNS, and a high stress index had a higher scorer in written exams than students with a healthy SDNN, a balanced SNS/PNS, and a normal stress index, respectively (p=0.004, 0.018, and 0.012, respectively). Moreover, skilled exam scores were negatively correlated with body mass index (r=-0.249, p=0.014), and were higher in female students (r=0.240, p=0.018). Students with an abnormal autonomic balance diagram (ABD) had a higher score than students with a normal ABD (p=0.03). Conclusion: This study shows that medical students with higher stress measured by HRV have higher academic achievement, especially in written exam. Further studies are needed to reconfirm the results of this study and to assess the long-term effects of HRV measured stress on medical education.

Purpose: This study will compare differences in perception of interprofessional education (IPE) in the faculty of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy. It will also analyze differences in the level of importance of IPE competences and the present competence levels of their students perceived by the faculty. Methods: The study included 115 participants from the faculty of medicine, 31 from nursing, and 23 from pharmacy. The surveys contained 21 questions on their perceptions of IPE, and perception on the nine competences of IPE. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance and χ 2 analysis, and the Borich coefficient was calculated to identify the educational order of priority from the competence levels of their student of IPE. Results: Participants of 14.8% responded that they were aware of IPE, 95.8% responded that they did not have experience in IPE, and 95.8% responded that IPE was necessary. Among the subfactors of perception of IPE, the faculty of medicine had significantly lower perceptions of the importance, effectiveness, and support of IPE (p<0.001). The present competence levels of their students were significantly lower (p<0.001) than the level of importance of IPE competences perceived by the faculty, and its perception was at its lowest in the faculty of medicine. The needs assessment of the IPE program was in the order of communication skills (10.210), conflict-solving skills (10.114), problem-solving skills (9.319), empathy skills (9.110), and collaborative leadership (8.624) among the nine competences. Conclusion: This study will contribute to providing basic data needed to develop faculty development programs on IPE and IPE programs for their students.

BackgroundTask-specific checklists, holistic rubrics, and analytic rubrics are often used for performance assessments. We examined what factors evaluators consider important in holistic scoring of clinical performance assessment, and compared the usefulness of applying holistic and analytic rubrics respectively, and analytic rubrics in addition to task-specific checklists based on traditional standards.MethodsWe compared the usefulness of a holistic rubric versus an analytic rubric in effectively measuring the clinical skill performances of 126 third-year medical students who participated in a clinical performance assessment conducted by Pusan National University School of Medicine. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 37 evaluators who used all three evaluation methods—holistic rubric, analytic rubric, and task-specific checklist—for each student. The relationship between the scores on the three evaluation methods was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation. Inter-rater agreement was analyzed by Kappa index. The effect of holistic and analytic rubric scores on the task-specific checklist score was analyzed using multiple regression analysis.ResultsEvaluators perceived accuracy and proficiency to be major factors in objective structured clinical examinations evaluation, and history taking and physical examination to be major factors in clinical performance examinations evaluation. Holistic rubric scores were highly related to the scores of the task-specific checklist and analytic rubric. Relatively low agreement was found in clinical performance examinations compared to objective structured clinical examinations. Meanwhile, the holistic and analytic rubric scores explained 59.1% of the task-specific checklist score in objective structured clinical examinations and 51.6% in clinical performance examinations.ConclusionThe results show the usefulness of holistic and analytic rubrics in clinical performance assessment, which can be used in conjunction with task-specific checklists for more efficient evaluation.

This result shows that there are differences in the factors that affect the selection of medical specialties between medical college students and graduate medical school students. But, the opportunity to explore future careers and to consult their choice of specialty, in accordance with the needs and characteristics of individual students, must be provided for all medical students.