PURPOSE
The primary concern of this study was to identify the core elements of medical professionalism [in] medical school applicants.
METHODS
250 medical school professors were chosen to participate in a Delphi study and 250 medical students were asked to complete questionnaires. 106 responses from the Delphi survey and 230 completed questionnaires were finally used for analysis. The Delphi survey was repeated four times and from this result, the medical students' questionnaires were made. The questionnaire for pre-medical students included 27 medical professionalism statements.
RESULTS
Responses from the Delphi survey and questionnaires revealed the following: 1) of the 27 medical professionalism elements examined, the most important core element was thought to be 'life-long learning skills', 2) the level of professionalism in Korean medical students was mostly assessed to be below 3.0 mean score by the professors, and 3) there were significant differences between the professors' and the premedical students' assessments of the level of medical professionalism inpremedical students.
Premedical students tended to rate themselves higher than the professors.
CONCLUSION
Medical professionalism includes the areas of professional knowledge, skills, and attitude and their designated domains and elements. These areas should be considered when selecting people into medical schools.
