Perceptions of Ward Round Time: A Vignette-Based Study of Patients, Physicians, and Medical Students

Purpose: Limited opportunities for communication with physicians consistently receive the lowest scores in South Korea’s Patient Experience Assessment, largely because of insufficient and inconsistent ward rounds. However, little is known about how physicians and medical students perceive this issue from the patient’s perspective. This study aimed to examine whether physicians hold more positive views of ward round time than patients and whether medical students, as future physicians, already share similar perceptions.Methods: An experimental vignette design was used to compare perceptions of ward round time between patients and physicians, and between physicians and medical students. Four hypothetical ward round scenarios were presented, varying in duration and frequency: 1 minute daily, 3 minutes daily, 1 minute every 2 days, and 5 minutes every 2 days. Data came from two separate surveys involving 186 patients, 291 physicians, and 303 medical students.Results: In the “1 minute daily” vignette, 60.1% of physicians and 61.9% of patients expressed negative perceptions. For the “1 minute every 2 days” vignette, more physicians (92.4%) than patients (82.3%) reported negative responses. Across all groups, more positive perceptions were associated with longer and more frequent ward rounds. Contrary to expectations, physicians viewed limited ward round time as insufficient—at levels comparable to or even exceeding those of patients. Medical students generally held more negative views of short ward rounds than both physicians and patients.Conclusion: Physicians and medical students recognize limited ward round time as a problem, at least as much as patients do. These findings support initiatives aimed at improving patient–physician interaction in inpatient care settings.