Calls Mount for Reform of South Korean Dental Schools' Clinical Training Patient Recruitment System
Key Insights
A Gwangju-Jeonnam civic education group has publicly criticized the practice of dental students having to personally recruit patients for clinical training to meet graduation requirements.
Students at Chonnam National University and Chosun University dental schools have been found soliciting patients through online communities, sometimes offering free treatment and transportation.
The civic group warns that students from other regions or without personal connections face systemic disadvantages in completing their clinical education.
A civic education group in South Korea has issued a sharp critique of the country's dental school clinical training system, calling for urgent reforms to address what it describes as a "dysfunctional structure" in which students must personally recruit patients to fulfill graduation requirements.
World Without Examination-Based Discrimination, a Gwangju-Jeonnam civic education group, released a press statement on the 30th highlighting systemic failures in how dental teaching hospitals support students during their clinical rotations. "Due to insufficient patient connection support from dental teaching hospitals, the practice of students finding patients on their own is repeatedly occurring," the group stated, urging the Ministry of Education to "promptly establish a system to secure practice patients."
Students Turn to Online Communities for Patient Recruitment
According to the civic group, dental students at institutions including Chonnam National University and Chosun University have been actively recruiting patients through local online communities. The students seek individuals willing to undergo procedures such as scaling, cavity treatment, and wisdom tooth extraction — often offering these services free of charge. In some cases, students have even offered round-trip transportation to attract prospective patients.
The group confirmed that "some dental students are mobilizing family and acquaintances or directly recruiting patients through online communities to complete clinical training courses."
Structural Disadvantages and Ethical Concerns
The civic group emphasized that the current system creates inherent inequities among students. "For prospective medical professionals to bear the burden of patient recruitment at a time when they should be focusing on completing their educational curriculum and preparing for the national examination is a structural limitation of the current clinical training operation system," the group noted. It further warned that "students who are from other regions or lack personal connections inevitably face disadvantages in completing their education."
Beyond the educational impact, the group raised concerns about the ethical implications of the practice, calling on universities to "strengthen medical ethics education, such as prohibiting patient inducement and referral, and advise against individual patient recruitment."
The Ministry of Education has been urged to inspect school curricula and implement a formal patient-securing system to alleviate the burden on students and ensure equitable access to clinical training opportunities across all dental schools.