J Med Life Sci.  2025 Jan;22(1):8-15. 10.22730/jmls.2025.22.1.8.

Neurosonology education for undergraduate medical students in South Korea

• Kim HJ
• Choi JC

• KMID: 2564087
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.22730/jmls.2025.22.1.8

Abstract

This study assessed the status of neurosonology education for undergraduate medical students in South Korea. An online survey was conducted between September 1 and October 31, 2022, among neurology faculty members at 40 medical schools. The survey consisted of 15 questions on existing neurosonology education and the willingness to integrate it into the undergraduate curriculum. Descriptive analyses were performed using the frequency and percentage distributions. The survey achieved an 80% response rate from 32 participating institutions. Among these, nine (28.1%) included neurosonology lectures in pre-clerkship neurology courses and 15 (46.9%) incorporated them into the neurology clerkship. However, 66.7% of the institutions offering neurosonology allocated less than 1 hour to education, and only 13% of the training involved hands-on courses. The rest relied on live demonstrations and lectures. Of the 17 institutions that did not provide neurosonology education during clerkship, 13 expressed willingness to introduce it in the future. No significant differences were found between institutions that offered neurosonology education and those that did not in terms of student numbers, neurology faculty size, years of establishment, or region. In conclusion, only half of medical schools in South Korea offer neurosonology education, and their programs are limited in time, content, and teaching methods. Expanding neurosonology education requires collaboration among experts in neurosonology, medical education, and other related fields.

Keyword

Ultrasonography; Education; medical; undergraduate; Curriculum; Neurology