The Career Counseling Program in Medical Schools outside Korea

Abstract

Medical students can choose to pursue any of a large number of specialties. This diversity reflects exciting opportunities, yet it also present significant challenges, such as providing medical students with adequate resources and guidance to help them to make informed career decisions. Additionally, because the medical internship will be abolished in the near future, many Korean medical schools have recently focused on implementing a career planning and advising program. This paper describes the Careers in Medicine (CiM) program offered by the Association of American Medical Colleges as a framework for other schools to adopt or adapt as they consider the best ways to address the career counseling needs of their own students. CiM is a comprehensive career planning program that provides students with the skills, information, and resources to choose a specialty and residency program that meets their career goals. CiM follows a four-year, four-step career planning process including self-understanding, exploring a variety of medical careers, and finally choosing a specialty. The CiM program has been evaluated as successful because of widespread participation and positive feedback from medical students. The information in this study can be used to develop a formal career advising program throughout the four years of medical school.