Korean J Fam Pract. 2018; 8(6): 860-863  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2018.8.6.860
Comparison of Clinical Skill Test Scores between North Korean Refugee Doctors and Fourth Grade Medical School Students: Reeducation of North Korean Refugee Doctors
Joon Seop Hyun1, Seok Hoon Kang1,2,*, Jeong Hee Yang1, Sung Uk Chae1, Hyunwoo Kim1
1Department of Family Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital; 2Department of Medical Education, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
Seok Hoon Kang
Tel: +82-33-258-9206, Fax: +82-0504-477-4271
E-mail: kingla@kangwon.ac.kr
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2881-8774
Received: September 11, 2017; Revised: October 12, 2017; Accepted: October 13, 2017; Published online: December 20, 2018.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: The health care system in North Korea that trains medical doctors has collapsed. Hence, there is reason to question the clinical competence of North Korean (NK) doctors. However, few studies have investigated the clinical competence of these doctors. We examined the results of clinical skill tests conducted by a medical school in South Korea for NK refugee doctors.
Methods: In two consecutive years, Kangwon University School of Medicine administered a clinical skill test, similar to the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE), to their fourth year medical students and seven NK refugee doctors. The annual test results of each group were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.
Results: The NK refugee doctors scored lower on history-taking in the clinical performance examination (CPX), and on practice and proficiency in the objective structured clinical examination than the South Korean students. The NK refugee doctors displayed higher average scores on physical examination in the CPX.
Conclusion: NK refugee doctors could pass the clinical skill test of the KMLE with sufficient effort and experience.
Keywords: Clinical Competence; Clinical Skill Test; Korean Medical Licensing Examination; North Korea; Refugee Doctor
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