NEWLY-GRADUATED MEDICAL DOCTORS AS NEAR-PEER TUTORS FOR PREPARING NATIONAL LICENSING EXAMINATION: A CASE REPORT

Background: Medical students in Indonesia are required to pass a national licensing examination (e.g., UKMPPD) as a requirement of graduation and to obtain their certificate of competence. Medical schools prepared their students based on their needs and capacity. The preparation might use different teaching approaches. Undergraduate medicine program in Universitas Gadjah Mada conducts a national licensing examination preparation program facilitated by both faculty members and peer tutors. The peer tutors are newly graduated medical doctors who were recruited and trained. The use of trained peer tutors in a structured program to prepare high-stake examination such as a national examination is considered novel. This paper aims to describe a peer-assisted learning (PAL) approach used to prepare medical students in facing a national licensing examination.Case Discussion: A preparation program using faculty and peer tutors was deployed to prepare final-year medical students for facing the Indonesian national licensing examination. The ratio of sessions facilitated by faculty to peer tutors was 1:2. The preparation included CBT and OSCE training. Sessions with faculty used a medium to large class approach while sessions with peer tutors used a small to medium group approach. Through February 2020, 147 students have participated in the program. A questionnaire was developed to measure agreement that the program was successful and if the tutees were satisfied with various aspects of the program. The tutees responded with high rates of satisfaction to most items on the questionnaire (responses for all but one item ranged between 72.1% and 90.5% in favorable agreement or satisfaction). The one exception was CBT preparation where the level of satisfaction was lower (54.4% rated CBT favorably). Participants highly valued the involvement and the performance of peer tutors.Conclusion: The use of near-peer assisted learning for national licensing examination preparation has strong potential. Further study is required to investigate the impact of the peer-assisted national licensing examination preparation program on students’ achievement and clinical practice.

Current issues and areas for improvement in the Korean Dental Hygienist National Licensing Examination: an expert Delphi survey among dental hygienists

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate current issues and areas for improvement in the Korean Dental Hygienist National Licensing Examination (KDHNLE) through an expert Delphi survey.Methods: A Delphi survey was conducted from May through August 2016 in Korea. This Delphi survey included 20 persons representing the field of dental hygiene (7 groups from various dental hygiene-related organizations). The Delphi survey was administered through e-mail as 3 rounds of questionnaire surveys regarding the issues facing the KDHNLE and potential solutions to those challenges. The primary Delphi survey was an open questionnaire. In each round, subjects’ responses were categorized according to the detailed themes of their responses. The minimum value of the content validity ratio of the survey results was determined by the number of panels participating in the Delphi survey.Results: Issues facing the KDHNLE were identified from the results of the Delphi survey. The following 4 items had an average importance score of 4.0 or higher and were considered as important by over 85% of the panels: the failure of the practical test to reflect actual clinical settings, the focus of the practical test on dental scaling, the gap between the items evaluated on the national examination and actual practical work, and insufficiency in strengthening the expertise of licensed dental hygienists. The following items were suggested for improvement: more rigorous rater training, adjustment of the difficulty of the licensing examination, the introduction of a specialized dental hygienist system, and more rigorous refresher training for licensed dental hygienists.Conclusion: Based on the above results, the KDHNLE should be improved according to the core competencies of dental hygienists, including on-site clinical practice experience.

History of the national licensing examination for the health professions under the Japanese Government-General of Korea (1910-1945)

During the reign of Japanese Government-General of Korea (Joseon) from 1910 to 1945, the main health professionals who were educated about modern medicine were categorized into physicians, dentists, pharmacists, midwives, and nurses. They were clearly distinguished from traditional health professionals. The regulations on new health professionals were enacted, and the licensing system was enforced in earnest. There were two kinds of licensing systems: the license without examination through an educational institution and the license with the national examination. The Japanese Government-General of Korea (Joseon) combined education with a national examination system to produce a large number of health professionals rapidly; however, it was insufficient to fulfill the increasing demand for health services. Therefore, the government eased the examination several times and focused on quantitative expansion of the health professions. The proportion of professionals licensed through national examination had increased. This system had produced the maximum number of available professionals at low cost. Furthermore, this system was significant in three respects: first, the establishment of the framework of the national licensing examination still used today for health professionals; second, the protection of people from the poor practices of unqualified practitioners; and third, the standardization of the quality of health.

Medical licensing examination (uigwa) and the world of the physician officers (uigwan) in Korea’s Joseon Dynasty

Physicians for ordinary people in Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) do not need to pass national medical licensing examination. They had done their job after enough period of apprenticeship. Only physician officers were licensed as technical civil servants. These physician officers were middle class, located socially between the nobility and the commoner. They had to pass a national licensing examination to be considered for high-ranking physician officers, that is, those at the rank above the 6th level out of a total of 9 ranks, where the first rank was highest. Royal physicians also had to pass this examination before accepting responsibility for the King’s healthcare. This article aims to describe the world of Physician officers during the Joseon Dynasty. Physician officers enjoyed considerable social status because they dealt with matters of life and death. Owing to the professional nature of their fields and a strong sense of group identity they came to compose a distinct social class. The physician officers’ world was marked by strong group allegiances based on shared professional knowledge; the use of marriage to gain and maintain social status; and the establishment of hereditary technical posts within the medical profession that were handed down from one generation to the next. The medical licensing examination persisted until 1894 when the civil service examination agency, of which it was part, was abolished. Until that time, the testing agency, the number of candidates who were accepted, two-step test procedures, and the method of test item selection were maintained and enforced. These aspects of the test could be considered characteristic of the medical licensing examination.