title: North Korean refugee doctors' preliminary examination scores.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although there have been studies emphasizing the re-education of North Korean (NK) doctors for post-unification of the Korean Peninsula, study on the content and scope of such re-education has yet to be conducted. Researchers intended to set the content and scope of re-education by a comparative analysis for the scores of the preliminary examination, which is comparable to the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE).
  
  
  METHODS
  The scores of the first and second preliminary exams were analyzed by subject using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. The passing status of the group of NK doctors for KMLE in recent 3 years were investigated. The multiple-choice-question (MCQ) items of which difficulty indexes of NK doctors were lower than those of South Korean (SK) medical students by two times of the standard deviation of the scores of SK medical students were selected to investigate the relevant reasons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average scores of nearly all subjects were improved in the second exam compared with the first exam. The passing rate of the group of NK doctors was 75%. The number of MCQ items of which difficulty indexes of NK doctors were lower than those of SK medical students was 51 (6.38%). NK doctors' lack of understandings for Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures, Therapeutics, Prenatal Care, and Managed Care Programs was suggested as the possible reason.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The education of integrated courses focusing on Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures and Therapeutics, and apprenticeship-style training for clinical practice of core subjects are needed. Special lectures on the Preventive Medicine are likely to be required also.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Uk
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6158-1182
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Chae
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Hee
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8646-6247
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Joon Seop
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9529-4133
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hyun
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: June Hee
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0813-1465
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon, Korea.|Department of Medical Education, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seok Hoon
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2881-8774
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D056911:Democratic People's Republic of Korea; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008004:Licensure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians; D012036:Refugees; D056910:Republic of Korea
keywords: Clinical competency; Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; Foreign medical graduates; Refugees