Analyzing research trends after the international journal transition of the Korean Journal of Medical Education: using topic modeling techniques.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to analyze the research trends of the Korean Journal of Medical Education (KJME) since it became an English-language journal. METHODS: A total of 274 articles published in KJME from 2016 to 2023 were analyzed. All article types were included in the analysis. NetMiner ver. 4.0 (Cyram Inc., Korea) was used for the main keyword and topic modeling analysis. RESULTS: Of the 274 articles, 170 (62%) and 104 (38%) were by domestic and international authors, respectively. The main keywords with high frequency were "students," "learning," "experience," "pandemic," and "perception." Three topics were derived using topic matching analysis: "residents' perception and attitude of the pandemic," "assessment of learning and achievement," and "learning experiences in the pandemic." CONCLUSION: Since the shift to English-language journals, medical education research has witnessed an increase in the number of articles published by international authors. Research on postgraduate education has increased. Research topics are relevant to situations such as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. These findings can help researchers select research topics and encourage them to submit their research to the journal.

Differences in fear of failure and college adjustment by type of medical school entrance extrinsic motivation using a latent profile analysis.

PURPOSE: The decision to enroll in medical school is largely influenced by extrinsic motivation factors. It is necessary to explore the factors that affect pre-med students' motivation to enter medical school and their college adjustment, and to develop measures to help them adjust. METHODS: A total of 407 pre-med students were surveyed regarding their motivation to enter medical school, fear of failure, and college adjustment. We analyzed the latent profiles of extrinsic motivation factors using latent profile analysis. One-way analysis of variance was conducted to examine the differences in fear of failure and adaptation to university life according to the latent groups. RESULTS: After analyzing the latent profiles of entrance motivation, three latent profiles were selected. They were divided into high, medium, and low extrinsic motivation groups. Three profiles scored the highest on job security, followed by good grades and social status. Sophomores were more likely to be high extrinsic motivators than freshmen were. Fear of failure was high in the group with high extrinsic motivation, and adaptation to college life was highest in the group with low extrinsic motivation. CONCLUSION: Job security was the most important extrinsic motivator for entering medical school, and extrinsic entrance motivation influenced fear of failure and college adjustment. Given the high level of extrinsic motivation among medical students, it is meaningful to analyze the extrinsic motivation profile of entering medical students and how it affects failure motivation and college adjustment.

The impact of repeated item development training on the prediction of medical faculty members' item difficulty index.

BACKGROUND: Item difficulty plays a crucial role in assessing students' understanding of the concept being tested. The difficulty of each item needs to be carefully adjusted to ensure the achievement of the evaluation's objectives. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether repeated item development training for medical school faculty improves the accuracy of predicting item difficulty in multiple-choice questions. METHODS: A faculty development program was implemented to enhance the prediction of each item's difficulty index, ensure the absence of item defects, and maintain the general principles of item development. The interrater reliability between the predicted, actual, and corrected item difficulty was assessed before and after the training, using either the kappa index or the correlation coefficient, depending on the characteristics of the data. A total of 62 faculty members participated in the training. Their predictions of item difficulty were compared with the analysis results of 260 items taken by 119 fourth-year medical students in 2016 and 316 items taken by 125 fourth-year medical students in 2018. RESULTS: Before the training, significant agreement between the predicted and actual item difficulty indices was observed for only one medical subject, Cardiology (K = 0.106, P = 0.021). However, after the training, significant agreement was noted for four subjects: Internal Medicine (K = 0.092, P = 0.015), Cardiology (K = 0.318, P = 0.021), Neurology (K = 0.400, P = 0.043), and Preventive Medicine (r = 0.577, P = 0.039). Furthermore, a significant agreement was observed between the predicted and actual difficulty indices across all subjects when analyzing the average difficulty of all items (r = 0.144, P = 0.043). Regarding the actual difficulty index by subject, neurology exceeded the desired difficulty range of 0.45-0.75 in 2016. By 2018, however, all subjects fell within this range. CONCLUSION: Repeated item development training, which includes predicting each item's difficulty index, can enhance faculty members' ability to predict and adjust item difficulty accurately. To ensure that the difficulty of the examination aligns with its intended purpose, item development training can be beneficial. Further studies on faculty development are necessary to explore these benefits more comprehensively.

Analysis of the perceptions, competencies, and educational needs for global health among Korean medical students.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of global health education (GHE) among medical students and their involvement in global health activities and identify priorities of educational needs for developing GHE programs. METHODS: This study was cross-sectional and conducted through an online survey for medical students. The participants were students attending medical schools nationwide, and the final analysis target was 678. The survey developed questionnaires necessary for research purposes regarding global health-related experiences and perceptions, level of awareness of global health competencies (GHC), and needs assessments. The data were analyzed using the frequency analysis, chi-square test, independent t-test, Borich Needs Assessment Model, and the Locus for Focus Model. RESULTS: In total, 60.6% (411/678) agreed on the need for GHE, whereas 12.1% (82/678) agreed on the appropriateness of GHE in the current medical school curriculum, indicating a perception gap between the necessity and the status. At the current level of awareness of global health and GHC, we identified statistically significant differences according to gender, participation in global health activities, and GHE. In the analysis of the educational needs of GHC, all items of GHC had statistically significant differences between the importance level and the current level, and priorities were derived. The competency with the highest priority was domain A (Global Burden of Disease). CONCLUSION: We expect the findings of this study to be used in Korean medical education as fundamental data to prepare a hereafter research foundation for GHE and discuss systematic GHE based on GHC.

Correction: Data Analysis of Physician Competence Research Trend: Social Network Analysis and Topic Modeling Approach.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/47934.].

Data Analysis of Physician Competence Research Trend: Social Network Analysis and Topic Modeling Approach.

BACKGROUND: Studies on competency in medical education often explore the acquisition, performance, and evaluation of particular skills, knowledge, or behaviors that constitute physician competency. As physician competency reflects social demands according to changes in the medical environment, analyzing the research trends of physician competency by period is necessary to derive major research topics for future studies. Therefore, a more macroscopic method is required to analyze the core competencies of physicians in this era. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze research trends related to physicians' competency in reflecting social needs according to changes in the medical environment. METHODS: We used topic modeling to identify potential research topics by analyzing data from studies related to physician competency published between 2011 and 2020. We preprocessed 1354 articles and extracted 272 keywords. RESULTS: The terms that appeared most frequently in the research related to physician competency since 2010 were knowledge, hospital, family, job, guidelines, management, and communication. The terms that appeared in most studies were education, model, knowledge, and hospital. Topic modeling revealed that the main topics about physician competency included Evidence-based clinical practice, Community-based healthcare, Patient care, Career and self-management, Continuous professional development, and Communication and cooperation. We divided the studies into 4 periods (2011-2013, 2014-2016, 2017-2019, and 2020-2021) and performed a linear regression analysis. The results showed a change in topics by period. The hot topics that have shown increased interest among scholars over time include Community-based healthcare, Career and self-management, and Continuous professional development. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the analysis of research trends, it is predicted that physician professionalism and community-based medicine will continue to be studied in future studies on physician competency.

Validation of the Korean version of the Reflective Practice Questionnaire in clinical clerkship of Korean medical students.

PURPOSE: This study aims to verify whether the Reflective Practice Questionnaire (RPQ) developed by Priddis and Rogers is valid in the Korean context to identify the level of reflection of medical students in clinical practice. METHODS: A total of 202 third- and fourth-year medical students from seven universities participated in the study. After receiving approval for use from the authors, a survey was conducted on the students through an adaptation process. The original scale consists of 10 factors with 40 items. The Self-efficacy in Clinical Performance Scale (SECP), Korean Self-reflection and Insight Scale (K-SRIS), and Reflection-in-Learning Scale (RinLS) were used to validate the scale. Exploratory factor, confirmatory factor, correlation, and reliability analyses were used for data analysis. RESULTS: As a result of exploratory factor analysis, 10 subfactors were extracted (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin=0.856, Bartlett's test: χ 2 =5,044.337, degrees of freedom=780, p<0.001). Among the 40 items, one that showed a high overlapping load for other factors was excluded. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, the 10-factor structure model was found suitable (χ 2 =1.980, comparative fit index=0.859, Tucker-Lewis index=0.841, root mean square error of approximation=0.070). As a result of the criterion validity test, most of the subfactors of the Korean version of the RPQ (K-RPQ) showed a positive correlation with K-SRIS, RinLS, and SECP. The reliability of 10 subfactors was satisfactory, ranging from 0.666 to 0.919. CONCLUSION: The K-RPQ was confirmed to be a reliable and valid tool to evaluate the level of reflection among Korean medical students in clinical clerkship. This scale can be used as a tool to provide feedback on each student's level of reflection in clinical clerkship.

Latent profile analysis of adaptation types and stress among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea.

Objective: This study aimed to identify profile groups based on personality traits and coping strategies exhibited by medical students in the context of COVID-19. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey and latent profile analysis to investigate differences in stressors, psychological distress, and stress levels with academic variables. We collected data online (Google survey form) in November and December 2021. The participants included a total of 260 1st and 2nd year medical students, all completed questionnaires containing the following sections: Big Five Inventory, coping strategies, COVID-19 stressors, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and stress level with academic variables. For analysis, a latent profile analysis, ANOVA, and χ2 were used. Results: The results reveal the three following profile groups: adaptive (lowest neuroticism, low mental disengagement), middle-adaptive (moderate neuroticism, low mental disengagement), and maladaptive (highest neuroticism and mental disengagement), respectively comprising 25.0%, 39.2%, and 35.8% of the study sample. There were no statistically significant intergroup differences regarding grade (χ2=3.345, p=0.188) or gender (χ2=1.197, p=0.550). The maladaptive group was strongly associated with perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.001). Conclusion: These findings highlight the value of considering profile groups when determining whether students require additional support during pandemics.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical students of clinical clerkship in South Korea: A qualitative study exploring medical students' experiences.

Background and Objective: In 2020, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, medical students were placed in a learning environment that exposed them to unsafe clinical settings. In this study, using a phenomenological approach, we analyze the experiences of fourth-year students in the Daegu area of South Korea, a region that experienced a high concentration of COVID-19 infections. Methods: The essays of 80 students from four medical schools who agreed to participate in the study were utilized in the final data analysis. The data were analyzed using the proposed phenomenological analysis. Results: Forty-seven condensed meaning units, twelve subthemes, and three essential themes were identified. The main theme includes the following: 1) confusion and stress due to sudden changes in the learning situation 2) learned the medical professionalism of physicians 3) reflection and internal change regarding what it means to be a physician. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on students who participated in clinical clerkships. This study can provide baseline data for planning educational strategies and establishing a support system for students in response to the changes that they may experience in the event of the reoccurrence of a novel infectious disease in the future.

Changes in self-reflective thinking level in writing and educational needs of medical students: A longitudinal study.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the change in understanding of the self-reflection method, reflective thinking, and writing attitude and perception. Moreover, we investigated students' educational needs and methods regarding self-reflection. METHODS: The subjects were 117, who were in the pre-medical course in 2017 and were promoted to the medical course in 2019. Questions concerning students' understanding of self-reflection methods, their attitude and perception of reflective writing, and educational needs and methods regarding self-reflection were self-developed. For students' reflective thinking level in writing, we used the approach developed by Galvez-Martin, Bowman, and Morrison and adapted by Kwon. For dada analysis, χ2 test, t-test, frequency analysis was used. RESULTS: We found that students' level of understanding regarding self-reflection methods increases slightly, but not significant (χ2 = 2.238, p>0.05). There was no significant change in the level of reflective thinking in writing (χ2 = 8.003, p>0.05). The students' attitude toward reflective writing decreased in the medical course than in the pre-medical course (t = 3.475, p<0.001). The perception that reflective writing was helpful for individual improvement decreased during the medical course (t = 4.931, p<0.001). The need for self-reflection education increased in the medical course (t = -2.659, p<0.001). They preferred implementation in the first year of the medical course as an instructor-led special lecture. CONCLUSION: Self-reflective ability is not naturally developed as students' progress through grade levels. Educational intervention is needed to help students understand approaches to self-reflection and its importance in enabling them to develop their abilities as well as to participate actively in reflective writing.

Medical Students' Perceptions of Patient-Doctor Relationship in South Korea: Concept Mapping Analysis.

Introduction: The patient-doctor relationship has evolved from early paternalism to a consumerism and partnership model that emphasizes cooperation. Patient-doctor relationships might vary with the socio-cultural environment, because the medical environment affects such relationships. Method: We investigated the patient-doctor relationship among medical students through concept mapping analysis. Twenty-six fourth-grade Korean medical students wrote a reflection journal and participated in the concept classification and the importance evaluation of the derived concept. ALSCAL multidimensional scaling and Ward hierarchical cluster analysis were performed. Also, the 5-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the importance of the concept. Results: Sixty-six statements about the patient-doctor relationship were extracted and grouped into six clusters. The x-axis is the dimension of "Information-Respect," and the y-axis is "Changeability-Persistence." Six patient-doctor concepts were derived and students evaluated "Patient-centered" as the most important. Conclusions: Medical students express various concepts of the patient-doctor relationship. Considering that they may encounter various medical conditions and patients, it is necessary that they understand deeply the complex patient-doctor relationship.

Heart Rate Variability-Measured Stress and Academic Achievement in Medical Students.

OBJECTIVES: Stress can affect learning and memory in students. Previous studies on stress in students were conducted mainly through surveys. We investigated how heart rate variability (HRV)-measured stress is related to academic achievement in medical students during clerkship. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted. HRV measurements were performed in 97 third-year medical students during their family medicine clerkship course. Data on written and skilled examination scores of the end of the school year were also collected. We assessed the association between HRV-measured stress and written/skilled examination scores. RESULTS: Written examination scores showed a positive correlation with standard deviation of the normal-to-normal intervals (SDNNs) (r = 0.245, p = -0.016), sympathetic nervous system/parasympathetic nervous system (SNS/PNS) balance (r = 0.218, p = 0.033), and stress index (r = 0.381, p = 0.004). Students with an unhealthy SDNN, a dominant SNS, and a high stress index had higher scores in written examinations than students with a healthy SDNN, a balanced SNS/PNS, and a normal stress index, respectively (p = 0.004, 0.018, and 0.012, respectively). Moreover, skilled examination scores were negatively correlated with BMI (r = -0.249, p = 0.014) and were higher in female students (r = 0.240, p = 0.018). Students with an abnormal autonomic balance diagram (ABD) had a higher score than students with a normal ABD (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that medical students with higher stress measured by HRV have higher academic achievement, especially in written examinations. Further studies are needed to confirm the results of this study and to assess the long-term effects of HRV-measured stress on medical students.

Perception of interprofessional education and educational needs of students in South Korea: A comparative study.

Due to the recent emphasis on the importance of interprofessional education (IPE) in healthcare fields, interest in IPE introduction is increasing in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in perceptions of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students regarding IPE. Also, the study aimed at identifying the priority rankings of educational needs by analyzing the differences between students' perceptions of the importance level and the present level for each interprofessional competency. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a survey. A total of 1,500 questionnaires were distributed, of which 1,084 were returned (response rate, 72.3%). The participants were 559 medical, 393 nursing, and 96 pharmacy students. The questionnaire comprised items on the students' perception of IPE and their interprofessional competency. The questionnaire comprised 12 items on their IPE perception and 9 items on their interprofessional competency. These items were developed by examining the content validity by medical educational specialists and conducting a factor analysis for verification. Data were analyzed using the t-test and ANOVA, and Borich's formula was used to calculate the rank of educational needs.89.6% did not know the meaning of IPE. The difference in students' perception of IPE was not significant by grade. Further, the level of IPE perception was higher for female than male students and for students who knew the meaning of IPE than those who did not. The nursing students' perception of the importance, preference, and effectiveness of IPE was the highest, whereas medical students' perception was the lowest. All students perceived their present level to be lower than the importance level for each interprofessional competency. Interprofessional communication skills (6.791) were highly necessary for students. These results will serve as baseline information for developing IPE programs in South Korea.

Negative school experiences of Late Millennial Korean medical students: a qualitative study using the critical incident technique.

PURPOSE: Today's students have distinctive generational characteristics and increased psychopathology and generational tension. The authors investigated the negative experiences of Late Millennial students in medical school to draw implications for student support. METHODS: The authors explored medical students' negative experiences using the critical incident technique. The authors conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 13 medical students, between February and May 2016. The authors focused on occurrences that significantly influenced medical students' school lives negatively from the students' perspective. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The authors classified incidents into frames of reference for the use of faculty development for student support. RESULTS: The authors extracted 22 themes from a total 334 codes and classified them into eight subcategories. Finally, four categories emerged from frames of reference. Students manipulate relationships and colluding for better specialty choice. They experience uncontrolled rifts in interpersonal relationships between peers including lawsuits, sexual assaults, and social network service conflicts. Today's students feel resentment towards dependent hierarchical relationships with seniors. They struggle with gender discrimination but perpetuate outdated gender role toward the opposite gender. CONCLUSION: Faculty members should understand today's students' level of career stress and desire for work life balance. They should motivate students' professional identity, promote assertiveness against unfair authorities, and focus on mental health, teamwork, and relationship building. All generations need to understand other generations and develop appropriate leadership and gender sensitivity.

Perceptions of the interprofessional education of the faculty and the level of interprofessional education competence of the students perceived by the faculty: a comparative study of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy.

PURPOSE: This study will compare differences in perception of interprofessional education (IPE) in the faculty of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy. It will also analyze differences in the level of importance of IPE competences and the present competence levels of their students perceived by the faculty. METHODS: The study included 115 participants from the faculty of medicine, 31 from nursing, and 23 from pharmacy. The surveys contained 21 questions on their perceptions of IPE, and perception on the nine competences of IPE. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance and χ2 analysis, and the Borich coefficient was calculated to identify the educational order of priority from the competence levels of their student of IPE. RESULTS: Participants of 14.8% responded that they were aware of IPE, 95.8% responded that they did not have experience in IPE, and 95.8% responded that IPE was necessary. Among the subfactors of perception of IPE, the faculty of medicine had significantly lower perceptions of the importance, effectiveness, and support of IPE (p<0.001). The present competence levels of their students were significantly lower (p<0.001) than the level of importance of IPE competences perceived by the faculty, and its perception was at its lowest in the faculty of medicine. The needs assessment of the IPE program was in the order of communication skills (10.210), conflict-solving skills (10.114), problem-solving skills (9.319), empathy skills (9.110), and collaborative leadership (8.624) among the nine competences. CONCLUSION: This study will contribute to providing basic data needed to develop faculty development programs on IPE and IPE programs for their students.

Impact of video feedback system on medical students' perception of their clinical performance assessment.

BACKGROUND: Providing feedback on student performance in the clinical performance assessment (CPA) is meaningful in that it helps students understand their strengths and weaknesses. This study compared students' perception of their CPA scores before and after providing personalized video feedback. METHODS: Two identical online surveys of Year 1 medical students (N = 103) that had undergone CPA were conducted to evaluate students' perceptions about their CPA scores before and after video feedback. Students were given their test scores with assessment analysis reports immediately after completing the CPA. Top-scored students from each station agreed to provide their video-recorded performance to the rest of the students. RESULTS: After comparing their performance video and top-scored video at each station, medical students were more aware of their CPA total score, clinical performance examination (CPX) total score, score of each CPX station, section score for the CPX station, history taking section score, physical examination section score, and doctor-patient relationship section score. Moreover, students became more convinced of their own weaknesses from their history taking and patient education section after viewing video feedback than before. CONCLUSION: The use of the video feedback system might help students recognize their CPA results and identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Changes of academic performance by integration between basic and clinical medicine in pre-clerkship medical education.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of curriculum revision on student performance in tests of the medical knowledge of students at Pusan National University. METHODS: Test scores of the Basic Medicine Comprehensive Examination (BMCE), conducted by the Medical Education Assessment Corporation, and internal clinical knowledge tests of the three integrated courses of the Pusan National University School of Medicine, during the last 3 years (2015-2017) were compared with an unpaired Student t-test and the results were considered to be significant at p<0.05. RESULTS: Curriculum revision in 2017 introduced the integration of basic and clinical courses at the organ level of medical education. Scores of BMCE and internal clinical knowledge tests in three integrated courses after curriculum revision showed a statistically significant increase after curriculum revision. CONCLUSION: Curriculum revisions that integrated the basic and clinical courses in organ-level education improved student's academic performance significantly.

Holistic rubric vs. analytic rubric for measuring clinical performance levels in medical students.

BACKGROUND: Task-specific checklists, holistic rubrics, and analytic rubrics are often used for performance assessments. We examined what factors evaluators consider important in holistic scoring of clinical performance assessment, and compared the usefulness of applying holistic and analytic rubrics respectively, and analytic rubrics in addition to task-specific checklists based on traditional standards. METHODS: We compared the usefulness of a holistic rubric versus an analytic rubric in effectively measuring the clinical skill performances of 126 third-year medical students who participated in a clinical performance assessment conducted by Pusan National University School of Medicine. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 37 evaluators who used all three evaluation methods-holistic rubric, analytic rubric, and task-specific checklist-for each student. The relationship between the scores on the three evaluation methods was analyzed using Pearson's correlation. Inter-rater agreement was analyzed by Kappa index. The effect of holistic and analytic rubric scores on the task-specific checklist score was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Evaluators perceived accuracy and proficiency to be major factors in objective structured clinical examinations evaluation, and history taking and physical examination to be major factors in clinical performance examinations evaluation. Holistic rubric scores were highly related to the scores of the task-specific checklist and analytic rubric. Relatively low agreement was found in clinical performance examinations compared to objective structured clinical examinations. Meanwhile, the holistic and analytic rubric scores explained 59.1% of the task-specific checklist score in objective structured clinical examinations and 51.6% in clinical performance examinations. CONCLUSION: The results show the usefulness of holistic and analytic rubrics in clinical performance assessment, which can be used in conjunction with task-specific checklists for more efficient evaluation.

Research trends in studies of medical students' characteristics: a scoping review.

The purpose of this study is to investigate domestic and international research trends in studies of medical students' characteristics by using the scoping review methods. This study adopted the scoping review to assess papers on the characteristics of medical students. The procedure of research was carried out according to the five steps of the scoping review. The full texts of 100 papers are obtained and are read closely, after which suitable 88 papers are extracted by us for this research. The review is mapped by the year of the study, source, location, author, research design, research subject, objective, and key results. The frequency is analyzed by using Microsoft Excel and SPSS. We found 70 papers (79.5%) on a single medical school, 15 (17.0%) on multiple medical schools, and three (3.4%) on mixed schools, including medical and nonmedical schools. Sixty-nine (79.5%) were cross-sectional studies and 18 (20.5%) were longitudinal studies. Eighty-two papers (93.2%) adopted questionnaire surveys. We summarized research trends of studies on medical students in Korea and overseas by topic, and mapped them into physical health, mental health, psychological characteristics, cognitive characteristics, social characteristics, and career. This study provides insights into the future directions of research for the characteristics of medical students.

Effects of micro- and subtle-expression reading skill training in medical students: A randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: to investigate the effectiveness of the Micro Expression Training Tool (METT) and the Subtle Expression Training Tool (SETT) to help improve the non-verbal communication skills of medical students. METHODS: In a randomized controlled trial, all participants were randomly allocated to either a training (n=41) or control group (n=41) and were pre-tested before education with METT and SETT at baseline. Then, training students took second tests after a 1-h class about interpreting micro and subtle expressions and control students took the second tests without the class. RESULTS: METT pre-test scores were positively related with female gender, agreeableness, whereas SETT pre-test scores were negatively related with age and positively related with female gender. Mean METT score increases of 29.3% and mean SETT score increases of 36.2% were observed after training, whereas the control group achieved only a mean METT score increase of 11.0% at second testing. Increases in both test scores in the training group were significantly higher than in the control group. CONCLUSION: METT and SETT are effective, simple tools for improving the micro- and subtle-expression reading skills of medical students. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: METT and SETT can be effective for improving the non-verbal communication skills of medical students.