Medical education adaptation in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Main Authors: Young-Mee Lee, Hyunmi Park
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National University of Singapore 2021-07-01
• Series: The Asia Pacific Scholar
• Online Access: https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/taps/medical-education-adaptation-in-south-korea-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Introduction: We describe the circumstances and adaptations in the South Korean medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss areas in need of improvement in preparation of a worsening situation or for similar future public health crises. Methods: Literature reviews, focusing on research papers about medical educational changes in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic were performed. Selective data collected from a nationwide online survey by the Korean Association of Medical Colleges on the status of curricular changes in medical schools during the COVID-19 was presented. Results: All lectures have moved online, but clinical students continued their hospital placements during the pandemic, except for the first 3-5 weeks during the first surge in 2020. Initial technical naivety of the faculty and lack of technical resources were short-lived and the medical students settled well showing a much higher than expected student satisfaction level over online education. Practical skills sessions which benefit most from onsite hands-on experiences such as anatomy dissection, were delivered through a blended approach in some medical school. Student evaluation is the area of least change, mainly due to the students’ lack of trust in online assessments. Conclusion: South Korea' underwent major changes in medical education brought upon COVID-19 and the readiness of the technology adoption has been much increased. Student evaluation is the area of least transformation. Adoption of a programmatic assessment system should be considered to enhance not only learning but also improve trust among stakeholders of medical schools.