Establishment of a Cohort at Chosun University College of Medicine for Social Accountability

Cohorts are established and operated at medical schools as part of efforts to improve the quality of education. Chosun University College of Medicine clarified the purpose of establishing three cohorts in light of its core values and developed criteria and indicators for each purpose. An organization focusing on cohort construction and operation was established as the Cohort Committee under the Quality Improvement Committee, and guidelines were proposed. In addition, a database and system were developed to handle primary data efficiently, and tools for measuring psychological variables were created. The data collected by establishing a cohort, regions, and admission types of graduates were first analyzed for the following projects: (1) an analysis of the educational process and quality improvement to educate medical professionals who contribute to the community after graduation, and (2) an analysis of the educational process and quality improvement to secure excellence in the medical field (e.g., knowledge and clinical reasoning), using information on the academic achievements of students and graduates as primary data. Chosun University College of Medicine is conducting cohorts and longitudinal studies gradually, starting with a simple, practically feasible system to solve the difficulties faced in cohort establishment and operation. Medical educators hope that future data collection and analysis will improve the quality of medical school education and have practical implications.