The purpose of this study was to promote an enhanced understanding of burnout among medical school professors by reviewing the literature on burnout in domestic and international medical professors, and to seek measures to prevent burnout. To this end, the general concept of burnout and the physical, cognitive, psychological, social, and behavioral symptoms that result from burnout were explained. In addition, the causes and results of high burnout among medical school professors were summarized in terms of demographic characteristics and the duties of educators, researchers, and physicians, and measures to prevent burnout in medical school professors were divided into individual and organizational levels. In order to prevent burnout among medical school professors, sensitive interest in themselves and self-reflection are required at the personal level. At the organizational level, it is necessary to regularly monitor burnout among medical school professors, improve systems, encourage participation in the policy-making process, and develop customized education programs. At the social level, it is necessary to recognize that burnout of medical school professors is a social problem, for which further research is needed. Therefore, in order for medical school professors not to burn out, there must be appropriate interactions among the individuals, organizations, and society, and the consistent attention should be paid to this issue.

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.

Background: The reliability and validity of the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for Koreans (K-HADS-A) has not been studied in Korean surgical patients. This study aimed to validate the usefulness of K-HADS-A for measuring preoperative anxiety in Korean surgical patients. Additionally, the effect of preoperative anxiety on postoperative quality of recovery was evaluated.Methods: Preoperative anxiety in 126 inpatients with planned elective surgery was measured using the K-HADS-A. The postoperative quality of recovery was measured using the Korean version of the Quality of Recovery-15. The validity and reliability of the K-HADS-A were evaluated. The differences in quality of recovery on the first and seventh day postoperatively were then compared between the anxious and non-anxious groups.Results: There was a statistical correlation between the K-HADS-A and Anxiety Likert Scale. The goodness-of-fit indices of the structural equation model showed how well the data from the K-HADS-A match their concept. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.848, and the P value of Bartlett’s test of sphericity was < 0.001. Cronbach’s alpha was high at 0.872. The K-HADS-A had an acceptable level of validity and reliability. Postoperative quality of recovery was significantly lower in the anxious group (postoperative day 1: t = 2.058, P = 0.042; postoperative day 7: t = 3.430, P = 0.002).Conclusions: The K-HADS-A is an acceptable tool for appropriately assessing preoperative anxiety in Korean surgical patients. Assessing preoperative anxiety is valuable, because preoperative anxiety affects the postoperative quality of mental and physical recovery.