Arkansas Colleges of Health Education this week announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine in Seoul, Korea.
The MOU will enable cultural learning exchanges between the ACHE’s first college, Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the hospital’s physicians.
This relationship was created under the direction of ACHE President Brian Kim, who was born in South Korea and developed a relationship with the hospital while working with the American Osteopathic Association. Kim joined ACHE in July 2019.
“As ARCOM develops its osteopathic medical education curriculum for students to practice locally, we want them to have not only a national, but a global perspective for patient care,” he said in a news release. “It will broaden our students’ abilities to approach their patients with mind, body and spirit medicine, which will ultimately help us fulfill our mission to educate competent, caring and compassionate physicians to practice in Arkansas.”
Jaseng Hospital is one of the largest networks of hospitals for non-invasive treatment of spinal disorders in South Korea. For over 30 years, it has been practices a holistic approach to healing and utilizing contemporary science, technology and health.
Jaseng also has facilities in southern California.
ARCOM plans to have a select group of students complete an anticipated two-week clinical rotation in Seoul studying non-traditional, non-western medical techniques practiced at Jaseng. The trip is tentatively set for June.
Students who have completed their first year of medical school will shadow and observe, but students in their third- and fourth-year rotations will have the opportunity to work side-by-side with the Jaseng physicians.
In addition, faculty from ARCOM will present lectures while in Asia, and Jaseng physicians will present their research and techniques in lectures in Arkansas.
When the trip takes place will depend on fundraising, Kim said. “Raising the funds which will allow these students to live in South Korea and study the techniques being used at Jaseng is a priority for me,” he said. “We want our students to look at more than just conventional approaches, and this opportunity presents our students with another tool in their medical bag, with a broader depth of experience that they will translate into a more compassionate approach to serving the underserved.”
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