Dang Thi Kim Chi, Yeh Byung-Il
Department of Medical Education, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, 20 Ilsan-Ro, Gangwon-Do, Wonju, 26426, Republic of Korea.
Skills Lab Center, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 06 Ngo Quyen Street, Hue City, Vietnam.
BMC Med Educ. 2025 Jul 1;25(1):891. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07380-8.
The importance of integrating Medical humanities education into medical curricula has been recognized worldwide. This study helps to understand the current status of the Medical humanities education in medical schools in Vietnam and provides insights and references for promoting it.
We conducted a comparative study based on a literature review and survey of Medical humanities courses in medical schools in Vietnam, the USA and Republic of Korea. Data from the USA and Republic of Korea were referenced from the previous reports. To obtain the data from Vietnamese medical schools we examined the curriculum posted on the websites and, if insufficient, collected them by contacting the faculties in the schools. We explored the similarities and differences in Medical humanities courses educated in medical schools in Vietnam and those in the USA and Republic of Korea. Additionally, chi-square tests were used to examine the association between the types of medical schools and offerings of Medical humanities courses in Vietnamese medical schools.
We analyzed information of 31 medical schools in Vietnam, 154 in the USA and 40 in Republic of Korea. Of these, 93.5% medical schools in Vietnam, 87.7% in the USA and all 40 in Republic of Korea provided at least one Medical humanities course. Medical humanities courses in Vietnam offered only 8 types of subjects, which was less diverse compared to more than 12 in the USA and Republic of Korea. In addition, the average number of Medical humanities courses in medical schools in Vietnam was less than those in the USA and Republic of Korea. The most common Medical humanities courses in Vietnam were Medical ethics (83.9%), Communication (71.0%) and Psychology (64.5%). Private schools showed a tendency to provide more Communication course.
Medical humanities education in Vietnam is significantly limited compare to those in the USA and Republic of Korea. Considering the potential of Medical humanities to produce new medical doctors with excellent medical practice, efforts should be made to strengthen Medical humanities education when reforming the curriculum in the future in Vietnam.
将医学人文教育纳入医学课程的重要性已在全球范围内得到认可。本研究有助于了解越南医学院校医学人文教育的现状，并为促进其发展提供见解和参考。
我们基于对越南、美国和韩国医学院校医学人文课程的文献综述和调查进行了一项比较研究。美国和韩国的数据参考了之前的报告。为了获取越南医学院校的数据，我们查看了网站上发布的课程设置，如果信息不足，则通过联系学校的教师来收集。我们探讨了越南医学院校与美国和韩国医学院校在医学人文课程方面的异同。此外，还使用卡方检验来研究越南医学院校类型与医学人文课程设置之间的关联。
我们分析了越南31所医学院校、美国154所医学院校和韩国40所医学院校的信息。其中，越南93.5%的医学院校、美国87.7%的医学院校以及韩国所有40所医学院校都至少提供一门医学人文课程。越南的医学人文课程仅提供8种科目类型，与美国和韩国的12种以上相比，种类较少。此外，越南医学院校医学人文课程的平均数量少于美国和韩国。越南最常见的医学人文课程是医学伦理学（83.9%）、沟通学（71.0%）和心理学（64.5%）。私立学校有提供更多沟通课程的趋势。
与美国和韩国相比，越南的医学人文教育明显受限。鉴于医学人文在培养具有卓越医疗实践能力的新医生方面的潜力，越南未来在改革课程时应努力加强医学人文教育。
