The medical educators in Korean are acutely aware of the need for the revision of the medical education programs in Korea which have many drawbacks. In planning for a new medical curriculum, we examined the problems of the traditional curricula of medical schools in Korea, followed by a review of the "integrated" curricula of other countries. Finally, we have chosen a program that we consider best adaptable to the medical schools in Korea. We believe that the objectives of the new medical curriculum should be to prepare the student to acquire sufficient knowledge, skills, and attitudes which on graduation will allow him to further pursue various specialities of medicine, including areas of basic medicine and a career as a medical scientist. Our approach to medical education in that of (a) integrated teaching, (b) medically and patient oriented, (c) problem-oriented, (d) student-centered, (e) identifying both the core and marginal material in course content and (f) encouraging and motivating for self-learning. The major portion of the program for the new curriculum includes eight weeks of introductory course followed by 52 for the body system courses, which run on an interdisciplinary basis between basic sciences and clinical disciplines during the first two years. The student will then enter the final two years of clerkship with various clinical rotations. We also propose the establishment of a learning center where most of the audio-visual materials used in the curriculum will be shelved. Finally, We propose the administrative structure of the medical programme which will allow the interdisciplinary approach to medical education.
