Reflection on the Experience of Medical Professionalism Education at Yonsei University College of Medicine

Abstract

For decades medical educators have continually emphasized medical professionalism, which is reflective response to the challenges of a rapidly changing medical environment. This study aimed to review the experience of implementing medical professionalism education at Yonsei University College of Medicine (YUCM). YUCM introduced a new curriculum in 2004 designed by Curriculum Development Project 2004 (CDP2004), a project that was launched in 2001. CDP2004 reorganized lectures as organ-based integrated lectures, introduced an introductory course for clinical medicine and medical humanities courses for premedical and medical students. Problem-based learning (PBL), elective courses, and self-study sessions in the afternoon were implemented in order to equip students with a self-directed learning attitude as medical professionals. Professors were asked by the CDP2004 curriculum to spend more time on student education and to adopt new teaching methods. Experiences of the CDP2004 curriculum reveals 1) difficulty of motivating professors to be PBL tutors 2) students’ dissatisfaction with the medical humanities course (major critique was that the course was impractical and unrealistic), and 3) students’ optimistic understanding about their future role as medical professionals in influencing and helping people in spite of their perception of the general medical environment not as promising. To foster professionalism, the following are necessary in our experiences: 1) faculty development of medical humanities and medical professionalism, 2) establishment of an environment throughout the whole institution to support medical professionalism education and to integrate the concept into praxis, 3) emphasis on the fact that medical professionalism education is not contradictory to biophysical medical education.