The Evolution and Future Directions of Korean Medical Physiology Textbooks: Reconstructing Educational Content and Strategic Proposals

This study examines the formation and development of Korean Medical Physiology textbooks, which form the foundation of education in Korean medicine colleges, and proposes future directions for teaching this subject. It analyzes the academic characteristics of early textbooks, focusing on Yoon Gil-young’s New Lectures on Oriental Medical Physiology (1961) and Kim Wan-hee’s General Introduction to New Physiology (1972), and compares the structural and theoretical changes from the first edition (1993) to the third edition (2024) of Dongui Physiology. The analysis shows that early textbooks attempted to integrate Western physiological concepts with traditional theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases, but since the 1970s, the influence of Chinese medicine has weakened Korea’s own direction in physiology, leading to a stronger emphasis on traditional theories. Dongui Physiology has since established academic consistency as a standard textbook across all colleges of Korean medicine, yet the interpretive linkage between traditional theories and modern life sciences remains insufficient. This study suggests that education in Korean medical physiology should move beyond the mere succession of traditional theories to reconstruct the Korean medical view of life in modern biomedical terms. It also emphasizes the need to strengthen clinical applicability and establish an integrative physiological framework based on Korean medical theory, thereby contributing to the development of personalized and integrative medicine.