Introduction—Status of Oriental Medicine in Korea
Oriental medicine has been developed over a long period of time. When the Medical Service Act was legislated in Korea in September 25, 1951 for the first time, Oriental medicine began to have the support of the legal system. Presently, Oriental medicine has the same legal status as Western medicine in Korea. Students of Oriental medicine are qualified for the National License Examinations for Oriental Medicine Practice after finishing 6-year courses in a College of Oriental Medicine. Before the Medical Service Act came into force in 1951, acupuncture was taught based on the acupuncturist system. However, after this legislation, the acupuncturist system was invalidated and legally assimilated into the Oriental medicine system since 1962. Presently doctors of Oriental medicine are entitled to practice all aspects of Oriental medicine, including acupuncture and prescription of traditional medicine.
When medical resources are compared between Western and Oriental medicines, the numbers of licensed doctors are 62 609 and 10 707 for Western and Oriental Medicine, respectively, and the number of such medical schools are 41 (entrance quota of 3300) and 11 (entrance quota of 750), respectively. The number of hospitals and local clinics is 16 643 (hospital 767, local clinic 15 876) for Western medicine and 6272 (hospital 115, local clinic 6520) for Oriental medicine (Table 1).
Table 1.
Status of Oriental and Western medical resources.
| Classification | Western | Oriental |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed doctors | 62 609 | 10 707 |
| Medical schools (entrance quota) | 41 (3300) | 11 (760) |
| Hospitals and local clinics (beds) | 16 643 (213 908) | 6635 (6668) |
| Hospital (beds) | 767 (164 322) | 115 (6549) |
| Clinics (beds) | 15 876 (49 586) | 6520 (209) |
In December 1997 for Western medicine and 1998 for Oriental medicine.
In Korea, a medical insurance system for Western medicine was started from July 1, 1977, but was not available for Oriental medicine until February 1, 1987. The insurance coverage is quite limited covering only some areas of Oriental medicine, such as diagnosis, acupuncture and cupping glass categories. Medical expenses in Korea are estimated at about 6.0% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 1996, of which 15% is spent on Oriental medicine. This reflects the fact that the number of licensed doctors of Oriental medicine is one-sixth that of the number of doctors of Western medicine. As the insurance coverage for Oriental medicine is expanded, the number of visitors to clinics of Oriental medicine is increasing already and is expected to increase rapidly.
To promote Oriental medicine, the medical specialties system has been required by Oriental medicine doctors and government recently. After graduation from medical college, medical licenses should be required by the ministry and graduates have to complete a 1 year internship and 3 year residency. Those seeking to become specialists should have to take a training course at the designated hospitals and pass the qualifying examination for specialists provided by the Association of Korean Oriental Medicine. The Association has produced 436 specialists through two examinations up to the present. Eight specialty fields make up the systems, i.e. oriental internal medicine; acupuncture and moxibustion; oriental gynecology; oriental pediatrics, oriental neuropsychiatry, dermatosurgery and ophthalmo-otolaryngology; oriental rehabilitation medicine; and Sasang constitutional medicine.
Colleges of Oriental Medicine in Korea
There are now 11 colleges affiliated to private universities since 1948 when ‘Dongyang College’ was founded, which was the former name of the College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University. By 1999, the colleges had an intake of 750 students. The total number of faculty members is 275 (average 25 per college) who belong to basic fields (113 persons, average 10.3 persons per college) and clinical fields (162 persons, average 14.8 persons per college) (Table 2).
Table 2.
Status of Colleges of Oriental Medicine in Korea (in February 1999)
| University | Enrollment | Faculty | Hospital (beds) | Facility (area: m2) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | clinic | Education | Research | Office | Library | |||
| Kyung Hee | 720 | 13 | 37 | 3 (519) | 10 (2173) | 45 (1594) | 1 (59) | 1 (363) |
| Wonkang | 600 | 16 | 34 | 4 (515) | 10 (1768) | 20 (3492) | 3 (772) | – |
| Dongguk | 480 | 14 | 17 | 4 (264) | 15 (1521) | 18 (857) | 3 (77) | 1 (234) |
| Kyungsan | 720 | 9 | 8 | 2 (140) | 10 (2691) | 21 (476) | 3 (45) | 1 (182) |
| Taejon | 480 | 13 | 14 | 3 (275) | 12 (1692) | 22 (1337) | 3 (95) | 1 (35) |
| Dongeui | 300 | 8 | 11 | 2 (180) | 14 (1389) | 27 (1133) | 3 (84) | 1 (1013) |
| Woosuk | 180 | 6 | 9 | 2 (170) | 10 (763) | 12 (629) | 3 (82) | 1 (76) |
| Sangji | 360 | 10 | 9 | 1 (83) | 13 (1421) | 10 (346) | 2 (73) | 1 (146) |
| Kyungwon | 180 | 7 | 9 | 1 (72) | 11 (356) | 13 (518) | 2 (65) | – |
| Dongshin | 240 | 7 | 9 | 1 (100) | 17 (1522) | 25 (1104) | 1 (83) | 1 (611) |
| Semyung | 240 | 10 | 5 | 1 (70) | 11 (1627) | 20 (845) | 1 (53) | – |
Colleges consist of several subdepartments of basic and clinical fields. Most colleges have 10 subdepartments of basic fields such as oriental medical classics, oriental medical history, oriental physiology, oriental pathology, meridianology, herbology, prescriptionology, oriental preventive medicine and anatomy. Some have a subdepartment of immunology, biology or pharmacology as needed. In clinical fields, there are subdepartments of oriental internal medicine (liver, heart, spleen, lung and kidney), oriental gynecology, oriental pediatrics, acupuncture and moxibustion, oriental diagnostics, oriental ophthalmotolaryngology and dermatosurgery, Sasang constitutional medicine, oriental rehabilitation and oriental neuropsychiatry. Some have subdepartments of east–west integrated medicine, biofunctional medicine and diagnosis, Qi-gong, radiology, neurosurgery or emergency medicine as needed.
College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University
The College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University is the most prestigious academic institute of Oriental medicine in the world. Our college was established in 1948, originally named ‘Dongyang College’. Later, its name was changed to ‘Seoul Oriental Medical College’ and ‘Dongyang Medical College’. In 1965, it was affiliated with Kyung Hee University and has produced many noted Oriental medical doctors and scholars in almost 50 years and has strived to adopt a modern scientific approach to treatment based on advanced medical science.
Our college was founded with the objective of promoting modernization and a scientific basis of Oriental medicine and establishing a ‘third integrated medicine’ through the comparative study of and the synthetic research in both Oriental and Western medicine. To achieve this goal, first we studied the basis of Oriental medicine including the yin-yang and the five phase theory, organs, meridian, diagnosis and treatments. Secondly, we studied the medical practice at the Oriental medical hospital. Thirdly, we combined Oriental medicine and Western medicine so as to make a novel field of medicine which can selectively capture the virtue of each medicine–analytical Western medicine and organic Oriental medicine.
The faculty members include 54 professors and eight lecturers and the student enrollment is about 780. Now there are two educational hospitals with 500 beds related to our college (Fig. 1).
Figure 1.
Organization of the College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University.
Curriculum
The academic year comprises two semesters, beginning in March and in September. Admission is restricted to the spring semester. The program is composed of 2 years of study in the Pre-Oriental Medical Course (a minimum of 77.5 credits are required to complete this) and then 4 years of work (a minimum of 166.5 credits are required to complete this) in the Department of Oriental Medicine.
The Oriental medical curriculum consists of 163 subjects, which are 12 subjects of a general studies course (42 credits, 736 h), 104 subjects of Oriental medical lectures and 32 subjects of medical lectures in the required course for a major (Tables 3, 4 and 5).
Table 3.
Curriculum of the College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University
| Courses | Subjects | Credits | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| General studies course | |||
| CRS | 2 (1.2%) | 6 (2.5%) | 96 (1.4%) |
| Required | 2 (1.2%) | 12 (4.9%) | 256 (3.7%) |
| Elective | 8 (4.9%) | 24 (9.8%) | 384 (5.5%) |
| Required course for major | |||
| Oriental medical | 104 (63.8%) | 152 (62.3%) | 4496 (64.9%) |
| Medical | 32 (19.6%) | 50 (20.5%) | 1216 (17.6%) |
| Elective course for major | 15 (9.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 480 (6.9%) |
| Total | 163 (100.0%) | 244 (100.0%) | 6928 (100.0%) |
CRS = Competence Requirement System.
Table 4.
Required course for major
| Oriental medical subjects | Credits | Hours | Medical subjects | Credits | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction of Oriental Medicine I, II | 4 | 128 | Medical English I, II | 2 | 64 |
| Classical Chinese I, II | 4 | 128 | Medical Statistics | 1 | 32 |
| Chinese Language | 1 | 32 | Biochemistry and Lab I, II | 7 | 160 |
| Chinese Literature of Oriental Medicine I, II | 3 | 96 | Embryology I, II | 2 | 64 |
| Classics of Oriental Medicine I, II | 6 | 192 | Anatomy I, II and Lab I, II | 9 | 192 |
| Oriental Medical History I, II | 2 | 64 | Histology and Lab | 2.5 | 64 |
| Famous Theories in Oriental Medicine I, II | 2 | 64 | Physiology I, II | 4 | 64 |
| Oriental Physiology I, II and Lab I, II | 9 | 192 | Pathology I, II | 4 | 64 |
| Oriental Pathology I, II and Lab I, II | 9 | 192 | Microbiology and Lab | 2.5 | 64 |
| Meridianology I, II and Lab I, II | 6 | 192 | Preventive Medicine I, II | 4 | 64 |
| Herbology I, II and Lab I, II | 9 | 192 | Diagnostics | 2 | 64 |
| Oriental Pharmacology I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 128 | Legal Medicine | 1 | 32 |
| Prescriptionology I, II and Lab I, II | 7 | 160 | Health Laws | 1 | 32 |
| Lab of Processology I, II | 1 | 64 | Radiology I, II | 2 | 64 |
| Oriental Preventive Medicine I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 128 | Clinical Pathology I, II | 2 | 64 |
| Medical Qi-gong I, II | 2 | 64 | Emergency Medicine I, II and Lab I, II | 4 | 128 |
| Shanghanlon | 2 | 64 | |||
| Science of Epidemic Febrile Disease | 1 | 32 | |||
| Internal Medicine I, II and Lab I, II Liver System | 5 | 160 | |||
| Heart System | 5 | 160 | |||
| Spleen System | 5 | 160 | |||
| Lung System | 5 | 160 | |||
| Kidney System | 5 | 160 | |||
| Acupuncture and | 6 | 192 | |||
| Moxibustion I, II and Lab I, II Gynecology I, II and Lab I, II | 6 | 192 | |||
| Pediatrics I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 160 | |||
| Oriental Dermatology and Surgery I,II and Lab I,II | 5 | 160 | |||
| Opthalmology and Otorhinolaryngolgy I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 160 | |||
| Neuropsychiatry I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 160 | |||
| Sasang Constitutional Medicine I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 160 | |||
| Rehabilitation Medicine I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 160 | |||
| Oriental Diagnosis I, II and Lab I, II | 5 | 160 | |||
| Manipulation I, II and Practice | 2 | 80 |
Table 5.
Elective course for major
| Subjects | Credits | Hours | Subjects | Credits | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture on Donguibogam | 0 | 32 | Aqua-acupuncture of Herbal extract | 0 | 32 |
| Nan Jing | 0 | 32 | Acupuncture according to Sa Am | 0 | 32 |
| Jin Gui Yao lue | 0 | 32 | Acupuncture according to Dr Dong | 0 | 32 |
| Clinical Prescriptionology | 0 | 32 | Spiral Valance Taping Treatment | 0 | 32 |
| Theory of the Five Elements and Six Climates | 0 | 32 | Diagnosis and Treatment According to Morphology | 0 | 32 |
| Zhou Yi | 0 | 32 | MPS | 0 | 32 |
| Anatomy Associated with Meridian | 0 | 32 | Medical Ultrasound | 0 | 32 |
| Immunology | 0 | 32 |
Education in Oriental medicine in Kyung Hee University.
The curriculum is characterized by harmony of Oriental medicine (holism) and Western medicine (science). To achieve the third integrated medicine, educational goal, there are 13 East–West Integrated Medical Centers or Clinics in Kyung Hee Medical Center. Accordingly, Oriental and Western medical studies are well harmonized on all sides in the curriculum. Another main feature of our curriculum is Korean peculiarities such as various subjects of Sasang constitutional medicine, acupuncture according to Sa Am, diagnostics and treatment by morphology, etc.
Discussion
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. In the USA, it was estimated in 1992 that at least one in three Americans utilized one of the CAM therapies, and the number of annual visits to CAM providers exceeds the number of visits to all primary care physicians (1). In a 1998 follow-up study, the percentage of CAM patients had increased to 42% of the US population (2). This continuing demand for CAM therapies has generated attention on the curricular integration of this topic by medical schools. The number of US medical schools reporting the inclusion of CAM in their curricula has increased from 46 out of 125 schools in 1996–1997 to 75 schools in 1998–1999 (3,4). However, CAM education studies show that this area of the medical curriculum is at an early stage of development and appears to have few guiding principles. Wetzel et al. proposed practical steps toward inclusion of CAM in medical curricula such as to define a core curriculum in CAM, to teach one medicine, to create opportunities tor cross-fertilizatioin and to include an experiential component (5).
When beginning the first steps of CAM education in medical schools, it must be emphasized that students should have an opportunity to experience CAM practice and educators should have evidence-based strategies to distinguish useful from useless interventions. If educators want to educate doctors who can understand and practice two medical systems properly, our school's experience will be one of a model curriculum in a medical school.
References
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