Awareness and attitudes toward dermatologist in Korea: A questionnaire based survey targeting dermatologie outpatients who attended a tertiary hospital

Background: Nowadays in Korea, the diagnosis and treatment of the skin diseases by non-dermatologists are surprisingly frequent, and dermatologists often encounter patients who could not distinguish a non-dermatologist from a dermatologist. Thus, misdiagnoses and complications might increase as well. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the awareness and attitudes of patients, who seek treatment for their skin diseases, toward dermatologists and non-dermatologists in Korea. Methods: Between September and December 2014, a total 221 dermatologie outpatients, who visited Chonbuk National University Hospital, were asked to complete a questionnaire. The questions covered its accordance with their visiting intention, practical ability to differentiate a dermatologist from other specialists, criteria for choosing the clinic for skin conditions, consciousness about cutaneous treatment by dermatologists, and others. Results: The ratio of male to female was 1 : 1.7, and the mean age was 40.5 (±13.18) years. Even though 34.8% of patients answered that they could distinguish between a dermatologist and a non-dermatologist, only 19.0% of the total patients were able to recognize the signboard of dermatologists. The most common criteria for choosing a clinic was if a dermatologist is present to administer treatment. Most patients did not want to visit a non-dermatologist for both the treatment of skin disease and cosmetic treatment. Conclusion: Many patients desiring dermatologie and cosmetic treatments wanted to see dermatologist; however, their ability to distinguish dermatologist from non-dermatologist was found to be very low. We suggest that the medical law in Korea needs to be improved such that the specialists are required to display a symbol issued by their own society on their signboards.