Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pmwhittier]

I am getting sick of hearing this. Korean doctors are good for Korean illnesses and plastic surgery and that's about it. I have seen 12 doctors in the 3 years I have been in Korea, and I’ll give you the numbers:

Doctors that didn’t speak English or weren’t willing to: 7
Doctors that spoke very broken English and were very difficult to understand: 4
Doctors that spoke fluently or near fluently: 1

This is alarming if you’re sick or need surgery. On 3 separate occasions, the doctor has made a mistake and the nurse had been afraid to mention it because the doctor was older/had higher social standing/whatever. Using my very limited Korean reading ability I was able to find these mistakes and have them corrected, but usually the doctor would be very angry with me. This is why I have seen so many doctors in just 3 years.

Korean doctors have the absolute worst “bedside manner.” If you are sick/need surgery/etc and need compassion, it won’t be found here.

Korean doctors are very smart. In Korean diseases. I am a big guy from North America and often the doctors pull up Naver to try to figure out what I’m talking about. Many have no idea what is going on outside of the peninsula.

One last thing to note: be cautious of unnecessary procedures. I had always heard a rumor that this was something that happened here, but I have experienced this first hand. If it sounds fishy, get a second opinion. This is also why I have seen so many doctors in just 3 years.

Sorry for the long speech. It just really frustrates me when people talk about Korean doctors/dentists/eye doctors as being “great!” They are great, for Koreans. Just be wary if you’re not a Korean.

[Lucas]

You're right about some of the countryside doctors, over 50.

I'm sure some of them have fake medical certs, or haven't washed their hands since the Korean War ended.

BUT, taking that kind of doc's out of the equation, I’ve found K doctors to be great. They just don't sugar coat things, like maybe you're used to.

They will tell you that you're morbidly obese and look at you like a bit of @#!#

They will tell you that if you keep doing X you'll be dead by Y, they won’t smile and wish you a nice day.

But they'll only charge you 5,000 for the pleasure (unless you don’t have cover/you cover doesn’t cover your illness), but that's for another thread.....

OP you say you're a 'big guy' - do something about it then!

[Captain Corea]

While I too have had lots of problems with docs here, I'm surprised at your main list. Really, you expect doctors in Korea to talk to you in English?

[le-paul]

amazing as they are, they dont seem to know basic things like patients having a medical history, allergies to anti biotics or factors that may caused illness or effect the medication.

Then theres the fact that there are over 600 pharmaceutical companies in korea that plagiarise medicine.

Id rather eat tiger cocks than go to a korean doctor

[optik404]

It's not only the doctors here that can't speak English, the girl at Starbucks can't understand me.

[Enduro]

And how come everything isn't written in English?

[Lucas]

[pmwhittier]

The doctors I have visited have all be found on hospital websites stating that they spoke English. Sorry for leaving that off before.

The kids at the coffee shops do a pretty good job here.

[3DR]

I totally agree OP. Where do these doctors get off not speaking fluent English in Korea? What's their deal? The nerve of them.

[KimchiNinja]

The KR medical system is way better than the US system.

Here in KR people have annual exams that test all sorts of things, and they receive a handy book containing the results. It's all about being open with information, getting feedback, and thus the possibility of prevention. As opposed to the US system of zero transparency, ignoring the problem and then making big money off people later after they get chronic disease.

And the annual testing is affordable, mine is free with my insurance, and only like $1200 without insurance. These same annual tests would cost like $10K in the USA, except they wouldn't even allow you to get the tests without first showing you had illness (nonsensical).

One weakness of the system is that you do not have a family doctor, thus they do not know your medical history. That's a pretty big weakness. It means you have to explain everything every time you meet a new doctor, which is an impossible amount of data to cover. A doctor can't possibly analyze the problem without factoring in your history.

They other weakness is that they get all their crappy knowledge from the USA. They did not reach their beliefs independently, they just studied the American books and assumed that knowledge was correct (bad assumption). So spotting the problem, they do good. But then giving advice to solve the problem, lots of bad advice.

That's my assessment. The complaint that they don't speak English is weird, why would they? Yet most doctors I've met speak well enough to communicate their thoughts.

[nate1983]

[cj1976]

I have heard some stories about Korean doctors woefully misdiagnosing patients. I met one guy who had some kind of puncture wound in his foot that had turned septic. The Korean doctor said the foot needed to be amputated, but the hastily-sought second opinion from an international clinic was that antibiotics would suffice.
Needless to say, I usually stick with the international clinics.

[cabeza]

Well they have all the fancy machines. I had a weird mystery pain and I was booked in for a CT and in the machine within 45 minutes. If that was back home it could have taken months. But the downside is that I think they overuse things like CTs and Xrays.

The over prescription of unnecessary drugs, especially antibiotics, is scary. I read something that the average East Asian will consume something like 25x the amount of antibiotics in their lifetime compared to a European.

Also the medical establishment seem to think the IV drip is some kind of miracle cure all. I've had nurses try to shove them in my arm for completely unrelated reasons. "You've got a gnawing pain in your abdomen? A litre of saline dextrose will take care of that." Go to a Korean hospital ward and note that everyone has a drip in their arm.

[Captain Corea]

Many k-adults have recommended that IV drip to me.... for a cold.

[Jane]

I have had some very good doctors as well as some very bad ones in Korea. It's like anything else you seek to buy/use the service of: shop around! And ask for recommendations from other people you know.

On a totally unrelated topic, people spend more time shopping for a car or an electronic gadget, for example, than for a house! On average, someone will spend something like 22 minutes looking through a house they will prospectively buy.

And those IV drips are great. I wish they would open IV drip cafes in Korea.