TRADITIONAL KOREAN medicine, also known as oriental medicine, has a profound history tracing back to prehistoric times. As an alternative medicine, it offers a different approach of understanding the human body. *The Yonsei Annals* interviewed a doctor of Korean medicine, Lee Jae-hee, to discuss what traditional Korean medicine is. After graduating from Daejeon University College of Oriental Medicine in 2021, she obtained her certification as a traditional Korean medicine specialist. Lee shares her perspective on how doctors of traditional Korean medicine interact with patients, what medical school is like, how their work relates to the field of medicine, and what the future of traditional Korean medicine looks like.

Annals: How did you decide to go to traditional Korean medical school?

Lee: There isn’t a grand story behind my decision to become a doctor of traditional Korean medicine. It first started when my mother could not walk by herself because of her herniated disc. She was unable to recover or improve her condition even though she visited various hospitals. However, after she started treatments from a doctor of traditional Korean medicine, she was able to fully recover. The most inspiring aspect of that clinic was the doctor’s attention towards the patient. The doctor deduced that she struggled to recover from the treatments because she was overworking from housework. He said that my mother would never get better if I don’t start helping her, so I did. She then recovered quickly through treatments and plenty of rest and is healthy to this day. From this experience, I began dreaming of becoming someone who carefully observes a patient’s daily life and takes care of their physical and mental needs. I realized that a doctor of traditional Korean medicine was the perfect job for my aspirations.

Annals: What was the process of preparing for admission and applying to traditional Korean medical school like?

Lee: The admission process to traditional Korean medical school is no different from any other college. There are a few ways of entering traditional Korean medical schools, such as the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) or early decision admission. In my case, I entered through the Overseas Korean admission route, taking Korean, English, and math exams and an interview.

Annals: What was it like preparing for the traditional Korean Medicine Certification exam?

Lee: The last stage to pass to become a doctor of traditional Korean medicine is the traditional Korean medicine certification exam. The exam usually takes place around mid-January, and the results come out around early February. The exam has 11 subjects and 340 questions in total. The subjects include internal medicine, acupuncture, health regulations, dermatology, neuropsychiatry [1], ophthalmology [2], otolaryngology [3], gynecology, pediatrics, preventive medicine, physiology, and herbal medicine. The amount and the scope of material to study were immense. Studying was a repeated process of understanding the content, memorizing it, and making summaries.

Annals: What are the different paths one can go on after graduation and acquiring the certificate?

Lee: There are various pathways one can go after graduation. Most people build experience for a few years in a local clinic of traditional Korean medicine or become a vice director of a nursing home and open their very own clinic afterward. Another pathway includes either being a specialist or a general practitioner. These graduates attend university hospitals or specialized training hospitals for a 1-year internship and 3 years of residency to obtain a professional certificate. Unlike other college departments, oriental medical students are not required to fulfill military service during their college years, so many people go to the military right after graduation. Lastly, some traditional Korean medicine majors enter various fields such as research, herbal medicine manufacturing, or working as a public official in the health and medicine field.

Annals: What do you do as a doctor of traditional Korean medicine?

Lee: Licenses for oriental doctors range from diagnosing and treating patients with physical illness to treating patients with infectious diseases, to writing death certificates. Usually, doctors in traditional Korean medical clinics treat patients with acupuncture, cupping [4], moxibustion [5], herbal acupuncture, and herbal medicine.

Annals: How does traditional Korean medicine differ from other practices of medicine?

Lee: Western medicine is disease-centered, and oriental medicine is body-centered. Western therapy works quickly and powerfully because the drug works directly on the disease.

   However, since abnormalities in the human body ultimately cause illnesses, if they remain intact after treatment, the disease is likely to recur within a short period of time. On the other hand, traditional Korean medicine corrects the human body's metabolism and helps overcome the disease on its own. While the therapeutic effect occurs slowly, it cures the root cause of the disease.

Annals: What kinds of patients choose to go to doctors of traditional Korean medicine?

Lee: A diverse group of patients visits a traditional Korean medicine clinic, but patients with musculoskeletal [6] problems, often struggling with back pains, are the most common. Other problems include a frozen shoulder, sprained arm, pain in the back, and knee pain. Patients also come to us for infertility, insomnia, and even growth therapy treatments.

Annals: What treatments do you offer for those patients?

Lee: For musculoskeletal patients, we actively use acupuncture, cupping, and physical therapy. Simultaneously, we use herbal medicine to help blood circulation. Although it depends on the patient’s situation, I prefer to use acupuncture for acute diseases and herbal medicine for chronic diseases. Traditional Korean medicine is psychosomatic medicine, which means that doctors of traditional Korean medicine observe and treat diseases of the physical body and also diseases of the mind. In fact, some patients seek us out of both physical and mental problems. One time, a woman came because she had digestive distress, and through our observation, we found out that she had stored anger in her heart. We were able to resolve her digestive problems by helping her with her anxiety and mental stresses. We resolve other mental conditions like insomnia and depression with prescriptions for sleep medications or antidepressants to calm down, sleep well, and suppress anger. In addition, other approaches, such as acupuncture and aromatherapy, can treat mental illness.

Annals: What are the biggest challenges of becoming a doctor of traditional Korean medicine?

Lee: Compared to other departments, the Department of Oriental Medicine has a lot of tests. There is a funny saying that students take more than 600 exams until graduation. On top of that, pop quizzes and other assessments also affect your final grade. The system requires you to study for another year if your grades are below a certain range, so the burden of tests and assessments was heavy.

Annals:  What do you think is the future of traditional Korean medicine?

Lee: Traditional Korean medicine has accumulated a substantial amount of data on treating the human body over a long history of research, practice, and treatment. If we actively research based on this data and build the evidence from a modern medical perspective, it has strong potential to help many sick people.

Annals: What are you doing at the moment?

Lee: I am currently working as an intern doctor in Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine in Gwanghwamun after graduating and obtaining my certification. Starting my first job as a doctor, I am building on my experiences as a medical student and applying my knowledge from medical volunteer experiences and my classes.

Annals: Yonsei University does not have a college of traditional Korean medicine. How can Yonsei students, or others who have not graduated from traditional Korean medicine school, become doctors of traditional Korean medicine?

Lee: If you are currently not attending Korean medical school, you have to start fresh as a freshman in a university with a Korean medical school. This means you would either have to re-take the CSAT or re-apply to a Korean medical college. The other option is to transfer to a Korean medical school. Usually, anyone who has completed up to their sophomore year in a university is eligible for application. Even those who have finished their undergraduate education can apply. For most universities, people from any major can apply. However, transfer spots are very competitive, so people from majors relevant to Korean medicine, such as biology, are more likely to get in.

Annals: Do you have any advice for students who aim to become Doctors of traditional Korean medicine?

Lee: As with all disciplines, the science of medicine is difficult to do without a particular drive. It is a profession that requires dedication, skill, and mastery in the constantly developing field of medical technology. Also, meeting and interacting with patients every day is not an easy task, both mentally and physically. Not only do we care for the patient’s body, but their mental health as well. Working in a hospital is physically tiring due to the hectic schedule alone. So, before pursuing traditional Korean medicine, you should confidently list out the reasons for why you want to work in this profession” If you have your own will, you will be able to overcome anything.

[1] Neuropsychiatry: Specializing in neurology and psychiatry  

[2] Ophthalmology: Concentrated on the study and treatment of diseases of the eye

[3] Otolaryngology: Specializes in the ears, nose, and throat

[4] Cupping: A type of therapy that involves a special cup to create suction on your skin. It is used for many reasons such as relaxation, blood flow, and inflammation 

[5] Moxibustion: Traditional Chinese medicine which involves herbs being “burned on or above the skin to warm and stimulate an acupuncture point or affected area” (Oxford Languages) 

[6] Musculoskeletal: “Relating to or denoting the musculature and skeleton together” (Oxford Languages)