# Improvement plan for professionalism course guidance based on adult learning theory

## TL;DR

This study proposes an improvement plan for professionalism education in a Japanese medical school, focusing on first-year students and emphasizing practical learning.

## Contribution

The study introduces a structured improvement plan for professionalism education in Japan, based on adult learning theory and practical implementation.

## Key findings

- Students showed improved understanding of their roles by graduation.
- The number of students who found the program most memorable tripled from 2018 to 2019.
- Further follow-up and facilitator feedback are needed to fully assess program effectiveness.

## Abstract

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Professionalism is widely known as extremely important to the practice of medicine. However, a methodology has not been established in Japan, such that teachers-in-charge at medical schools are using personal strategies in conducting classes. Evidently, research on professionalism education in Japan is lacking. Therefore, the study aims to report an improvement plan for professionalism education in a certain medical school in Japan with emphasis on practice. Specifically, the study focuses on problem extraction and targets medical students in the first year. The problems of the program were extracted for learner, grouping, facilitator, and presentation. Program improvements were implemented for each of these parts to overcome the problems. The result shows that students gained a better understanding of their roles until graduation. In addition, the number of students who answered that this program was the most memorable in 2019 has tripled compared with that in 2018. Regarding the program improvement, the effect of the program cannot be concluded based on this result alone. In the future, these students should be followed up to investigate any changes. In addition, feedback from each facilitator should be investigated as a future endeavor.