Abstract
As patients in South Korea play the main role in choosing healthcare providers, understanding their attitudes and beliefs toward medical institutions is essential. This study evaluated the public’s perspectives on doctors and local clinics. A face-to-face interview survey was conducted with 1000 participants who represent the South Korean adult population. The questionnaire consisted of four domains: personal information; trust level for nine professionals, including doctors; healthcare utilization behavior and attitudes regarding local clinics; and assessment of local clinics. The trust level of the doctor was highest (3.16 out of 4) among nine professionals. 85.3% of the participants frequently visited local clinics because of accessibility. The main reason for visiting hospitals over local clinics was the belief that doctors employed at hospitals would be better qualified. People were generally satisfied with the service of local clinics but wanted more facilities and equipment. Among six attributes of primary care, “first contact” and “accessibility” got higher scores in importance and current performance. Lastly, the participants suggested that improving the quality of doctors was most important for the reinforcement of primary care. Efforts to consider public opinion should be made before establishing healthcare policies for primary care.
Highlights
In the traditional doctor–patient relationship, the doctor played a dominant role in treatment decision-making, while the patient took a more passive role
When the participants were asked to evaluate the image of the medical doctor, the majority agreed with statements such as “high level of professionalism” (91.5%), “dedicating themselves to their patients” (63.7%), “necessary for public health” (77.0%), “deserving respect as a profession” (72.6%), which implied they had a positive image of medical doctors as healthcare professionals
When developing effective policies for the healthcare delivery system in South Korea, determining the opinion of patients is important because they have taken the initiative in deciding which level of medical institution to attend
Summary
In the traditional doctor–patient relationship, the doctor played a dominant role in treatment decision-making, while the patient took a more passive role. This was possible because the doctor monopolized medical information and the major diseases were suitable for this “activity–passivity model”. The relationship has undergone drastic changes in the last two to three decades. As information asymmetry has been resolved with the development of the internet, more patients seek to participate in treatment decision-making. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 2030; doi:10.3390/ijerph16112030 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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