How to Teach History of Medicine at Medical School: Period, Structure, and Teaching Methods

Currently, the education of the history of medicine in South Korea has established a solid foundation. Since Kim Du-jong (1896-1988) began giving medical history lectures at Severance Medical College in 1946, a total of 22 universities-over half of the 40 total universities-have implemented medical history education in the curriculum as of 2023. Furthermore, several textbooks and translations summarizing Western and Korean medical history have been published. However, despite this expansion, there has been little discussion on how to implement medical history education for students. To address this gap, this study examines the period and structure of medical history education, as well as various teaching methods, while considering their respective advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, there are two main approaches to implementing medical history education. One approach integrates medical history throughout the entire educational process, while the other concentrates on specific stages of education. Both approaches extend beyond undergraduate education and encompass medical education after graduation. The former emphasizes integration with basic medical and clinical education, while the latter focuses on ensuring educational coherence. Secondly, the structure of medical history courses can be broadly categorized as chronological or thematic. Within the chronological approach, there are two subcategories: general and periodic. The general method is traditionally used in history education but may be rigid in structure and fail to engage students' interest. On the other hand, the period method conveys multidimensional and comprehensive understanding of different periods but may make it challenging to grasp the overall flow of history, resulting in fragmentation of the course. Thematic structure can be further divided into topic-centered and field-specific methods. Both approaches allow for adjusting the content and arrangement of courses based on student interests and teaching conditions, but they present challenges in maintaining the coherence of the entire course. Lastly, the teaching methods in medical history education can be categorized into traditional lectures, small-group discussions, and individual research guidance. Most medical history courses adopt a lecture-based teaching method, which effectively provides diverse knowledge to medical students who may be unfamiliar with historical research and methodology. However, due to the one-directional nature of the instruction and the passive role of the learners, it can be challenging to stimulate learners' motivation or assess their understanding. Consequently, recent changes try to incorporate active learning through small-group discussions and individual research guidance.