A Study on How Young Doctors and Patients Perceive the Doctor-patient Relationship

Ahn, Sowon; Lee, Young Mee; Ahn, Duck Sun

Abstract

PURPOSE: We specifically investigated the young doctor (residents) patient doctor-patient relationship in Korea. A society built on Confucianism, age is expected to affect even the doctor-patient relationship.
METHODS
57 residents participated and answered 6 open-ended questions. 90 patients of various age participated and answered 3 open-ended and 6 close-ended questions.
RESULTS
It seems that the general problem of the doctor-patient relationships was related to attitudes and communication skills. Over 80% of the residents felt uncomfortable and received inappropriate verbal expressions and attitudes from their patients simply because they were young or younger than the patients. This negative experience resulted mostly from the residents' self-perceived lack of experience and clinical competence and the patients' distrust of young doctors. As for the patients, over 80% preferred middle-aged doctors to young doctors. Middleaged doctors were thought to be easier to understand, better mannered, more humane, and clinically competent. Most residents expected professional respect from their patients, while patients expected kindness and humility from the young doctors. This shows a gap in the reciprocal expectations between residents and patients.
CONCLUSION
Young doctors are perceived as inexperienced and incompetent and, consequently, not trusted by patients in Korea. To improve the resident-patient relationship, improvement in attitude and communication skills is needed.