Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adventurer]

I have had a friend who has been sick, and the friend has been to several doctors and several gave her wrong diagnoses.
One was trying to give her medicine for something, medicine my friend didn't need and for symptoms she didn't have, and my friend's educated about the symptoms she has. Finally, the doctor said, "I don't know, I have other patients". This wasn't the first doctor in this city to say this. It sounds bad. Is this kind of par for the course over here? I know it's true to some extent in the U.S. and Canada, but not usually to this extent.

[tideout]

[soomin]

I've had mostly good experiences with doctors here... but I think it's important to go to a specialist rather than a big hospital. It's not much more expensive, and they are good at their respective field and have a ready knowledge of what to look for and what to prescribe.

If your friend has a head cold, go to an ENT (이비인후과), stomach problems, go to a gastroenterologist/ internal medicine specialist (내과)... Their grasp of English is usually much better and they are faster and much better in the long run.

Also, don't forget to bring any medicines she might have to take with her in case their are reactions... having the bottle is an easier way for a doctor to understand exactly what the medication is for.

Good luck!

[Adventurer]

I don't know if it's because you guys are in Seoul, but I've got the impression based on my friend's experience that some of the physicians in Gwangju might as well have gone to a medical school for quacks. The comments they made just made no sense to me, and I'm not a doctor. Things they said and did in many cases didn't seem professional and it seemed like they didn't really know enough about health issues. It reminded me too much of health issues in the Third World except in some places like Kuwait they seem to be a lot more professional and knowledgeable based on what stories my friend was recounting based on having gone to several physicians here, not just one. I wonder if it's a regional thing. Another doctor who is more component had to argue with other doctors to do certain things. I'm incredulous. I dealt with doctors in Ilsan, and they seemed professional, but I didn't deal extensively with doctors there.

[ajuma]

I've found that there is a big difference between what I call "street doctors" and "hospital doctors". "Street doctors" are the ones with offices outside of hospitals. They're fine for minor things such as a bad cold, allergies, ear infections...simple things.

If you have anything even SLIGHTLY more serious, your best bet is to go to a doctor who works in a hospital. The bigger, the better as a rule.

I've been to many doctors here and have had major surgery so I'm speaking from experience. Of course not every doctor "fits" every patient but I've found that the hospital doctors far above their "street" peers.

[soomin]

[Adventurer]

[ajuma]

[Troglodyte]

I once worked at a large company here. I went to the company nurse to mention some symptoms and she recommended that I go to a clinic. She wrote down the names of a couple places and one of the Korean guys from the office drove me to the first place on the list. (I didn't have a car and I needed to be back in the office later.) The first place we went to was a huge, very modern looking clinic. I could tell right away though that it was a homeopathic clinic, but it seemed to be popular because there were a lot of doctors and patients there. Except for the charts and stuff on the walls, it looked like any regular doctors office. One of the doctors did an examination, asked some questions, explained his prognosis and gave me a prescription. My office colleague took the prescription to the pharmacy in the clinic and filled it. I ended up with several bags of powder and instructions on how to use them. I was going to try it because it wasn't a serious illness, but my colleague said that I should ignore that doctor and go to a regular clinic. So we got back in the car and drove to the next place on the list which was a regular clinic (western style medicine) and went through a similar procedure and ended up with a bag of pills. My colleague said to throw away the homeopathic stuff because he didn't trust that doctor.

It was an odd experience because both doctors were obviously well respected but both gave a different prognosis of my condition. I don't know what was in the homeopathic medicine so it's entirely possible that it would have had a similar effect to the pills, but since the prognosis was different, i presume that the medicine was also different.

I've also been to a dentist and told him that my tooth hurt when i ate something cold like ice cream. His prognosis: a cavity. His solution: don't eat ice cream. If it gets worse, come back to see about getting a filling.

[Cacille]

Troglodyte, I'm glad you threw away the homeopathic stuff. All it is is water. I can't imagine what the powder was. Suffice to say, homeopathy is based on the idea that something that causes your illness, (For instance, let's say you have a cough) taken in infinitesimally minute quantities, can CURE your illness. If I explain the whole thing, I'll probably be wrong somewhere, so it's best if people curious about homeopathy just read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

Or this:

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html

Any doctor who wants to prescribe you homeopathic cures, is a quack, non-scientific, charlatan.

[ajuma]

[KimchiNinja]

[Mix1]

[quote="KimchiNinja"][quote="Adventurer"]Finally, the doctor said, "I don't know, I have other patients". This wasn't the first doctor in this city to say this. It sounds bad. Is this kind of par for the course over here? I know it's true to some extent in the U.S. and Canada, but not usually to this extent.[/quote]

The difference is here they just say it. Personally I prefer direct style.[/quote]
The direct approach is fine, but not when the implied message is: "I don't know or care, and you aren't even worth my time. But the other people here are worth my time."

Part of treatment for many illnesses is at least making patients feel cared for. Doing some checks, getting some colored pills, and asking a few questions actually helps trigger the healing process. This doctor was the opposite of that. Total fail on his part.

But hey, at least he didn't misdiagnose (which is what has happened to me here several times).

[Unposter]

Like in many countries, the quality of medical professionals differ greatly. As a general rule, the better the hospital, the better the doctor. Check credentials and experience, if you are suspicious. As a general rule, good doctors have had at least one year as medical intern in a foreign, usually English-speaking country, hospital. And, you should find plenty of them in Seoul.

Outside of Seoul, I don't know, but I would guess it is much less.

A few other suggestions:

In Korea, there are different levels of clinics and hospitals. Local clinics are cheaper than general hospitals, but if you get a "letter" from a local clinic saying they cannot teat you, you can get the local clinic price at the general hospital.

Also, you do not have to go to an "International Clinc" if you have Korean health insurance, which all English teachers should have. The advantage of going to an International Clinic is that all the employees should speak good English. The disadvantage is that you will pay a premium for the service and sometimes that premium can be quite high. Doctors at general hospitals, especially in Seoul, should be able to speak English, especially medically related. They may not be able to give you directions to the pharmacy in English but they certainly should be able to speak about anything medically related to your problems.

Personally, I try to avoid the local clinics, unless I need a prescription for cold or flu medicine. Anything more serious, I would suggest going to at least a medium sized hospital after securing a letter from a local clinic saying they cannot help you.

[PEIGUY]

I've been to "street doctors" before and I've found them to be very good. In one case one was a dermatologist who received his dermatology specialty in the states and had a brother in law who was American. He took the time to explain things to me and their was no problems. I went to another dermatologist (at my wife's behest) in a major hospital in Seoul (Samsung in Seodaemun) and the doctor couldn't/wouldn't speak English and didn't really seem to be bothered with me and when I asked him questions in English he would answer in Korean to my wife. Whereas the previous doctor took the time to explain in both languages. Since hospitals are competitive why not check out the qualifications of the doctor before you go? Even the street doctors would have websites that should list their qualifications..