This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Three reports published in the 20th century have functioned as standard guidelines for medical education: the General Professional Education of the Physician report by the Association of American Medical Colleges, Tomorrow's Doctors from the General Medical Council of the UK, and Korean Physicians for the 21st Century by the Korean Association of Medical Colleges. At the moment, a great deal of innovation is occurring in Korean medical societies. However, these innovations bring to mind the parable of the blind men and an elephant in which each blind man feels part of an elephant with his hands and misunderstands the elephant's nature because he cannot see the whole animal. In the same way, there is no comprehensive picture of 'what is the good doctor' for here and now. Korean society is changing more and more rapidly in the 21st century due to influences such as an influx of immigration and resulting multiculturalism. We could not predict these changes even in the 1990s, when Korean Association for Medical Colleges was preparing its report. In light of a dynamically changing society, we must review and revise our definitions of a 'physician for here and now' every ten or twenty years.
1. AAMC Project Panel on the General Professional Education of the Physician and College Preparation for Medicine. Association of American Medical Colleges. Physicians for the twenty-first century: the GPEP report 1984;Washington, DC: Association of American Medical Colleges.
2. Tomorrow's Doctor: outcomes and standards for undergraduate medical education [Internet]. General Medical Council 2009;cited 2012 Feb 1. London: General Medical Council. Available from: http://www.gmc-uk.org/TomorrowsDoctors_2009.pdf_39260971.pdf
3. Korean Association of Medical Colleges. Medical Education Plan for the 21st Century Korea: Korean Physicians for the 21st Century 2000;Korean Association of Medical Colleges.
4. Senge PM. The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization 1990;New York: Doubleday/Currency.