Fifty-five percent of outpatients see a doctor for less than five minutes

A survey found that more than half of patients who received outpatient care last year saw a doctor for less than five minutes, demonstrating that it is not an exaggeration but a fact that doctors only spend five minutes with each outpatient.

In a survey released on Wednesday on medical service experience done as of 2023 by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs as commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 55 percent of respondents who received outpatient care last year replied that they saw a doctor for no more than five minutes. It was conducted on 14,910 men and women aged 15 or above from July 24 to Sep. 22 last year.

Those with four to five minutes spent with their doctors during outpatient care took up the largest share of 37.4 percent. As much as 17.6 percent said that it just took one to three minutes. Those with a six- to ten-minute check-up done accounted for 28.3 percent. Only 16.6 percent said that they spent more than 10 minutes in the doctor’s room. The respondents turned out to have an average of eight-minute outpatient check-ups according to the survey.

The survey also said that patients waited 17.9 minutes on average in the waiting room after hospital registration. The largest group of 37.8 percent said that they waited 10 to 20 minutes, followed by those waiting 20 to 30 minutes (26.3 percent). Out of five (19.2 percent) said that they waited more than 30 minutes in the waiting room. However, they showed a relatively high satisfaction level of outpatient care they received despite a short check-up time. Around 93.9 percent said that they were satisfied overall.


김소영 기자 ksy@donga.com