Gachon Medical School developed an "Experience-based Sharing Program" as a component of its "Patients, Doctors and Society" course. The program was designed to familiarize preclinical students with the various roles which patients and hospital personnel take on in the hospital setting by directly experiencing these roles and performing the same daily routines that these personnel perform. The unit was organized as a 6-day program for 2nd and 3rd year students during the winter recess. Distinguishing features of the course are that it encouraged (1) the active participation of students in the daily hospital activities which various hospital personnel perform other than providing direct medical care within the hospital setting, (2) non-faculty hospital personnel to function as educational facilitators, (3) the development of medical students interpersonal skills with various groups of hospital staff and patients, and (4) students to engage in self-evaluation by requiring them to report on their experience. We conclude that the program is useful and essential in motivating students to understand the roles of their future coworkers in medical practice, in developing students interpersonal skills with the goal that they will be better doctors, and in encouraging paramedical personnel to be facilitators in educating medical students.
