Bokgyu Kwon

A survey was conducted from September to December 2008 to examine the attitudes of patients, family members, and physicians toward the withdrawal of medical treatment for terminal patients and other related issues. The subjects for the study were 91 cancer patients, 96 family members of cancer or other terminally ill patients, and 140 physicians. Most subjects acknowledge the need for an appropriate regulatory framework for the withdrawal of treatment for terminal patients. However, some discrep

A Critical Review of Current Medical Ethics Education in Korea Ivo Kwon Department of Medical Education, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine There are numerous problems with the medical ethics education currently practiced in Korea. In the first place, there is a lack of consensus regarding the goals of medical ethics education. Some educators seek to promote morality or good character in medical students, while others focus on advanced bioethical issues such as euthanasia or organ t

Progress in biomedical technology has resulted in a number of patients experiencing painfully slow deaths by means of artificial ventilators or other inhumane treatments. Such experiences give rise to the question of whether it is right to provide these life-sustaining treatments when no effective or curative therapies are available. The purpose of this study is to examine respective views on this issue given by criminal law experts, the courts, medical professionals, and the public. In Korea, t

Purpose: To compare the evaluation results of faculties to those of Standardized Patients(SP) participating in a Clinical Performance Examination(CPX) administered at Ewha Womans University College of Medicine. Methods: The CPX was taken by 77 fourth year medical students. Cases and checklist were developed by the medical school consortium in capital area. Six cases were used and 24 SPs participated and evaluated the students’ performances. The whole session was recorded on videotapes so that 6

This study examines the current status of ethics education in medical schools in Korea and addresses the following questions: "Who teaches medical ethics?" "What is taught?" and "How is it taught?" The study also surveys opinions on the questions of "Who should teach medical ethics?" "What should be taught?" and "How should it be taught?" From March to May 2006, a questionnaire was developed and sent to educators of medical ethics in Korea. Out of the 41 medical schools that received the questio

Purpose: We did this study to find out the current teaching status of the medical humanities and social sciences curriculum in Korean medical schools. Further, we discuss the tasks at hand to improve the curriculum in medical education. Methods: The curricula of 41 medical schools and the syllabi of 10 schools were examined. We analyzed the tables of course organization and contents of integrated medical humanities. After analysis of the contents, they were grouped into 6 categories of medical

Institutional Review Board and Institutional Bioethics Review Board are primary Research Ethics Committees in Korea. Institutional Review Board(IRB) is the mandatory organization which reviews and has authority to approve, secure approval, or disapprove IND (Investigational New Drug) clinical research activities conducted in the institution( most hospitals) covered by Korea Good Clinical Practice(KGCP). Institutional Bioethics Review Board(IBRB) is the committee which reviews research activities

Contemporary medical ethics is far from the traditional concept of "In-Sul (仁術, benevolent art)" or "Yul-Li (倫理, ethics),which emphasizes so much the personality or the character of a doctor. Nowadays, medical ethics should be considered as "professional ethics" which regulates the acts and medical practices of ordinary doctors in their daily practice. The key concepts of the professional ethics are "autonomy", "integrity", and "professional standard" established by medical organizations such as

Purpose: Clinical performance examination(CPX) using standardized patients(SPs) is an acceptable method of testing medical professionals, but there has been some concerns about security. The objective of this work is to examine whether the day of the examination influences the scores of examinees of different medical schools at different times throughout the examination period. Methods: Six medical schools, which had participated in the Seoul-Gyeonggi CPX Consortium 2005, were enrolled. Each sta

한국인의 전통적 죽음관은 유교, 불교, 도교, 그리고샤머니즘의 깊은 영향을 받았다. 유교에서는 죽음이 모든 생명이 겪는 자연스러운 운명이며, 죽음을 고민하기보다는 현세의 삶에 충실할 것을, 도교에서는 삶과 죽음이 크게 다르지 않으니 자연에 순응하여 살아갈 것을, 그리고 불교에서는 삶과 죽음이 모두 허상임을 깨달으면 궁극적인 진리에 도달하여 죽음을 극복할 수 있다는 가르침을 배웠다. 이러한 사상들은 한민족 고유의샤머니즘과 결합하여 현세를 중시하지만 사후세계와윤회전생을 믿는 태도를 낳기도 하였다. 이러한 모습들은 역사를 통해서 매우 다양한 내러티브들로 나타나며현대 한국인들이 죽음을 맞는 모습에도 여전히 큰 영향을 미치고 있다.

In order to understand fully the issues involved in end-of-life care decisions, it is important to know the genuine wishes and thoughts of terminal patients themselves. This article reports on a narrative analysis of the data drawn from structured interviews with a number of terminal patients suffering from critical diseases such as cancer. Most patients approve of the withdrawal of life support treatment in irreversible and extremely painful conditions. They also admit the necessity of “advance

The medical professionalism for faculty members of medical schools has some different implication from other medical professions. They have to work as educator, researcher, and manager as well as clinician. The professionalism of each duties has its own uniqueness, which sometimes causes a conflict between them. Therefore, the faculty members of medical schools have to harmonize their different tasks and duties each other, looking after the professional development through the professional life.

NT-hESC research has been receiving much attention, because it holds an immense potential to cure incurable diseases. However, many ethical debates are waged concerning NT-hESC. The debates center around the issue of destroying embryos and acquiring egg donations, because in order to get stem cell lines, the artificial making and destroying of embryos are necessary. Many stem cell scientists around the world continue NT-hESC research within the boundaries of their country’s laws, policies and et

의학적 의사결정에 대한 우리나라 성인들의 인식을 파악하기 위해 수도권 거주 19세 이상 성인 500명을 대상으로 온라인 웹 설문을 활용한 설문 조사를 실시하였다. 5점 리커트 척도를 사용한 응답자의 우리나라 의료시스템에 대한 만족도는 3.08, 의료기관과 의사에 대한 신뢰도는 각각 3.15와 3.24였으며, 응답자의 90% 이상이 중병에 걸렸을 때 정확한 소식을 듣고 싶어 했다. 73.2%의 응답자가 나쁜 소식을 의사로부터 직접 듣기를 원하였으며, 의학적 의사결정에 있어 자신의 자율적 판단과 결정이 중요, 또는 매우 중요하다는 응답자가 전체의 93.2%였다. 실제 의사결정에 있어서는 자신/보호자/의사가 함께 결정해야 한다는 응답(41.2%)이 가장 많았고 다음으로 의사와 본인이 함께 결정해야 한다는 응답이 36.2%였다. 부모님 등 어른 환자의 의사에 대해서는 가급적 존중해야 한다가 60.2%, 경우에 따라 다르다는 21.0%였다. 응답자의 성별, 연령, 학력, 직업, 종교와 중한