Verification of Basic Kampo Academic Ability by Medical Profession and Physician Attributes Using the Performance Data from the “Nationwide Kampo Web Test,” and the Learning Effects of Taking the Tests Multiple Times

Abstract

We conducted four web-based tests on Kampo medicine for medical professionals nationwide. A total of 1,703 people took the test, including 773 doctors and 843 pharmacists. The academic abilities of the test-takers categorized by occupation was evaluated based on the results of 85 questions across the four tests. These questions covered five areas : Kampo history, Kampo theory and medical examination, Kampo pharmacology, clinical cases, and traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. For the 85 questions, the average correct answer rate was 62.7%, and the average discrimination index was 0.51, indicating that the tests were of good quality. In the area of theory and examination, doctors had a higher average correct answer rate than pharmacists (73.4% vs. 65.6%, p=0.07). The average scores of Kampo specialists were significantly higher than those of non-Kampo specialists across all tests (84.0 vs. 67.1, 72.4 vs. 56.0, 79.3 vs. 64.0, 76.2 vs. 51.7, all p＜0.05). Among 44 examinees who took the four tests in order of release, the average standard deviation of score was not significantly different between the first and final tests （53.6 vs. 53.4, p=1.00）, indicating no improvement in academic ability by taking the tests multiple time.