Research Trends on Doctors’ Competencies in Korea Using Text Network Analysis

Abstract

We use the concept of the “doctor’s role” as a guideline for developing medical education programs for medical students, residents, and doctors. Therefore, we should regularly reflect on the times and social needs to develop a clear sense of that role. The objective of the present study was to understand the knowledge structure related to doctors’ job competencies in Korea. We analyzed research trends related to doctors’ job competencies in Korea Citation Index journals using text network analysis through an integrative approach focusing on identifying social issues. We finally selected 1,354 research papers related to doctors’ job competencies from 2011 to 2020, and we analyzed 2,627 words through data pre-processing with the NetMiner ver. 4.2 program (Cyram Inc., Seongnam, Korea). We conducted keyword centrality analysis, topic modeling, frequency analysis, and linear regression analysis using NetMiner ver. 4.2 (Cyram Inc.) and IBM SPSS ver. 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). As a result of the study, words such as “family,” “revision,” and “rejection” appeared frequently. In topic modeling, we extracted five potential topics: “topic 1: Life and death in medical situations,” “topic 2: Medical practice under the Medical Act,” “topic 3: Medical malpractice and litigation,” “topic 4: Medical professionalism,” and “topic 5: Competency development education for medical students.” Although there were no statistically significant changes in the research trends for each topic over time, it is nonetheless known that social changes could affect the demand for doctors’ job competencies.