KYUNGHEE UNIVERSITY KOREAN MEDICAL CENTER
> Oriental Medicine > Introduction of OM
Oriental Medicine is a term with many variations of a general meaning.
Among the majority of American practitioners it refers to a system of medicine which originated approximately 4000 years ago in in far east Asia.
This area included what are now China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Vietnam.
In the 20th century Oriental Medicine serves almost two billion people in far east Asia, the former Soviet Union and Europe.
Oriental Medicine in Korea is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM), it is also called Korean Traditional Medicine.? Although Korean Traditional Medicine is influenced by TCM a lot, it has developed its own unique way of diagnosis and treatment.
For instance, acupuncture techniques such as Sa-am, Tae-guk, hand Acupuncture etc. are not found in TCM, and another characteristic feature is Sasang Constitutional Medicine which classifies people into four types, Taeyangin, Taeumin, Soyangin, Soeumin and treats differently according to the constitution. Nowadays there is a great experiment of fusion medicine in Korea which combines traditional medicine with modern medicine in many ways.
The education system of oriental medicine in Korea is a 6 year course in college which is equal with that of western medicine in Korea.? The curriculums include Western medicine, Chinese medicine as well as Korean medicine.
When students graduate from medical college they take an national examination in order to take oriental medical doctor's license. The graduate school of oriental medicine confers doctoral and master degrees.
Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine established in 1994 is a national institute to research from the basic principle to the clinical application of oriental medicine.
In Korea, there are 11,000 oriental medical doctors, 110 oriental medical hospitals, and 700 oriental medical clinics to diagnose and treat patients.
The Oriental medical college of Kyung-Hee University was established in 1965 and has 4,053 graduates.