• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.187-194
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• 2010

Objectives : There has been a need for establishing operational curriculum for chinese characters and chinese writing used by traditional Korean medicine(TKM), but it was not thoroughly recognized so far. Methods : We analysed the usage of unicode chinese characters of acupuncture & moxibustion textbook to recognize the prerequisite chinese characters for TKM studies as clinical perspectives. Results : It was found that 穴, 經, 鍼, 法, 寸, 部, 分, 刺, 下, 上, 中, 位, 氣, 陽, 灸, 脈, 陰, 治, 足, 主 are the most frequently used 20 chinese characters. We also showed that adequate prerequisite chinese character should be designated for the more efficient education of TKM. Conclusions : This study was the first systematic approach to get essential and prerequisite chinese characters for the education of TKM especially for the acupuncture & moxibustion. The prerequisite characters by this study will be used for the development of KEET (Korean Medicine Education Eligibility Test), entrance exam to the Colleges of Oriental Medicine and textbooks, and educational curriculum of premed students.