Essential Milestones in Japanese Medical Education and Data Utilization with Practical Cases from a Regional Medical University
Abstract
Outcome-based education has recently begun receiving considerable attention to assure the quality of higher education in Japan. Subsequently, institutional research, dealing with data management within an educational institution, has become an essential component of quality assurance. In medical education, institutional research that corresponds to the field is required to satisfy international standards. In Japan, the assurance of the quality of medical education is based on the Model Core Curriculum for Medical Education—the guidelines for establishing medical school curriculums to provide students with the knowledge and skills required by future physicians. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a descriptive overview of Japanese medical education by focusing on milestones indicated by the core curriculum and educational data. First, this paper will provide background knowledge about the current educational policies of Japan and international standards for medical education. Second, it will discuss features of the core curriculum and provide a comprehensive overview of milestones in Japanese medical education and how educational data can be utilized and analyzed. Furthermore, this paper will introduce a case describing the data practices of Asahikawa Medical University to illustrate current efforts toward the effective use of educational data.
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