Attitudes of Western Medicine Doctors and Korean Medicine Doctors
toward Korean Medicine Education for Cooperative Practices

Han, Gyungyeon; Gu, Hyungyung; Yun, Youngju; Han, Gyungyeon; Gu, Hyungyung; Yun, Youngju

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

J Korean Med. 2013;34(1): 160-169.

Attitudes of Western Medicine Doctors and Korean Medicine Doctors toward Korean Medicine Education for Cooperative Practices

Gyungyeon Han¹, Hyungyung Gu¹, and Youngju Yun²

¹School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University
²Department of Integrative Medicine, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University

Corresponding Author: Youngju Yun ,Tel: +82-55-360-5955, Email: mdkmdyun@pusan.ac.kr

Received: January 9, 2012; Accepted: March 4, 2013.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This survey was performed to investigate attitudes of western medicine doctors (WMD) and Korean medicine doctors (KMD) toward Korean medicine education (KME) to provide basic data for developing effective KME programs.
Methods: We selected study objects in western medicine (WM) - Korean medicine (KM) collaborative institutions and structured questionnaires were administered to both WMD and KMD for comparison. The data from 167 WMD and 135 KMD were analyzed statistically by frequency, χ² test and T-test analysis.
Results: 61.1% of WMD have never experienced KME and 15% were not interested in cooperative practices and research. Most KME was done in medical schools (45%) and only 5% in residency education. WMD interested or experienced in cooperation have had more KME than the uninterested and inexperienced groups. Intentions of WMD to cooperative practices and research made a difference on the willingness to take KME, while relevant experiences didn’t. WMD and KMD differed in ideas about major KME topics; WMD put the greatest emphasis on the herb-drug interaction, while KMD did on KM diagnosis and treatment. They also have different views on the optimal KME course load.
Conclusions: For successful collaboration, more continuing KME and motivation for cooperation is required for WMD. Improvements are also needed in the form and contents of KME to meet the demands of learners.

Keywords: Korean medicine | education | attitude | cooperative practices