Primary care research in South Korea: its importance and enhancing strategies for enhancement

ABSTRACT

Lively discussion has been underway regarding primary care in South Korea as an alternative medical policy in the face of rising medical costs and health care disparities. However, the lack of research about primary care in South Korea makes it difficult to move policymakers, so it is time to enhance primary care research in South Korea. Primary care research can be defined as research directed toward the better understanding and practice of the primary care function. Primary care research traditionally has included basic research, clinical research, health services research related to primary care, health systems research, and research on primary care training; and each field is complementary. In primary care research, participation of primary care physicians is essential because primary care research is different from other conventional studies of disease prevalence, patient characteristics, diagnostic methods, and the treatment environment. Primary care research findings in other countries cannot be applied to South Korea as the characteristics of the health system and medical practice are different. To enhance the research on primary care in South Korea, financial assistance, promoting the research capacity of primary care physicians, and more attention from primary care physicians to research are needed.