When South Korean broadcaster tvN greenlit medical drama Resident Playbook, in 2023, it probably seemed like a sure fire hit. The K-drama, now on Netflix, is a spinoff of the mega-popular series Hospital Playlist, cast talented up-and-comer Go Youn-jung (Alchemy of Souls, Sweet Home) in the lead role, and has Kim Song-hee (assistant writer for the critically acclaimed Reply 1988 series) at its helm.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Then, a medical crisis shook South Korea, fracturing the social contract between doctors, the government, and the public. The release date of the new drama, which filmed in late 2023 and was originally slated to debut on Netflix in March 2024, was pushed back. It was unclear how releasing a series focused on resident physicians would play in a tense political climate in which trainee doctors were resigning en masse in protest of the government’s proposed plan for bolstering the health care system.
A year later, Resident Playbook has finally debuted. Its first two episodes are now streaming on Netflix, with new episodes coming every Saturday and Sunday through May 18. Here’s what to know about the series and how it reflects the stark reality of South Korea’s medical system.
What is Resident Playbook about?
Resident Playbook is set at the fictional Jongno Yulje Medical Center, a different branch of the university hospital seen in Hospital Playlist. While Hospital Playlist is about a group of established doctors who first became friends (and bandmates) in medical school, Resident Playbook follows a group of Gen Z junior doctors who are just beginning their residencies in the underserved fields of obstetrics and gynecology.
Go stars as Oh I-yeong, an ex-rich kid whose family has gone bankrupt, leaving her 50 million won (roughly $35,000) in debt. With no other choice but to get a job, Oh returns to medicine, a field she previously flunked out of, helped by her doctor boyfriend Ku Do-won (Little Forest’s Jung Joon-won), who also works at Yulje. Oh is joined by former high school classmate Pyo Nam-gyeong (The Witch Part 2’s Shin Shi-ah), K-pop idol turned doctor Um Jae-il (When Life Gives You Tangerine’s Kang Yoo-seok), and socially awkward top student Kim Sa-bi (Han Ye-ji, in her debut role).
How Resident Playbook portrays medical training
When not in crisis, South Korea has one of the best healthcare systems in the world, as judged by healthiness of population and access to healthcare. Doctors there are generally respected and well-paid. In a 2023 survey, more than 60% of Korean office workers between the ages of 19 and 59 said they hope their children will go to med school in the future. The number one reason stated was because of the “stability” of the job.
We meet Resident Playbook’s main characters just as they are beginning their residencies, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, or OB-GYN. By this point in their careers, the residents have made it almost all the way through an extremely competitive medical training process, completing a six-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (or 의학사) program, a year-long internship where they try out different specialties, and passing major exams to land in a residency.
Doctors will take a specialist exam during the fourth year of their residency. If they pass, they will be qualified in that field. Some doctors do additional fellowship training for more specialized fields and/or to become a professor, like the main characters in Hospital Playlist.
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Why are South Korea’s resident doctors striking?
Due to a fast-aging population and a relatively low number of doctors per capita (2.6 per 1,000 people), the country faces a projected shortage of around 15,000 healthcare professionals by 2035. The doctor shortage has already begun to impact medical accessibility in rural regions, and in essential specialties, such as pediatrics, obstetrics, thoracic surgery, and emergency medicine.
After a decade or more of grueling studying and training, doctors tend to prioritize paths that are stable, high-paying, and offer better working conditions. Doctors working in essential medical care deal with more life-or-death related health care, which comes with higher risk of litigation in a country that has disproportionately high rates of criminal charges for medical errors. Pay and working conditions in these essential fields tend to be lower, especially compared to high-paying, lower-risk aesthetic medicines, such as dermatology.
In February 2024, President Yoon released a policy plan to address the doctor shortage. This plan included an increase to the annual number of medical school slots by 65%, from 3,000 to 5,058, beginning in 2025. In response, more than 10,000 of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors resigned. In a show of solidarity, more than 5,000 medical students requested leaves of absence. The mass resignations disrupted medical access, and had the government considering legal recourse. The Korean Medical Association (KMA), an organization that represents roughly two-thirds of the country’s doctors, backed up the collective action with threats of “an indefinite strike” if the government sought retaliation against the residents and interns.
Doctors and medical students argue that the government’s proposed plan will not address the deeper systemic issues in care access and quality, and that the rapid increase in medical student population will degrade the quality of education and training. The disagreement between the government and the medical community represents a deeper fracturing of trust between the two entities, further complicated by President Yoon’s impeachment and the unexpected political transition that has come with it.
How Resident Playbook reflects an ongoing medical crisis
Resident Playbook was written and filmed before South Korea’s current medical crisis began. But its story is broadly informed by the systemic conditions that have led to the stalemate between the medical community and the government.
As we learn in the first episode, Oh I-yeong is embarking on a medical residency for a second time. While the details surrounding her previous departure from medicine have not yet been revealed, it is implied that she was able to secure a residency spot at Jongno Yulje Medical Center in part because she is working in the unpopular OB-GYN field.
The second episode of the series sees all four main characters strongly considering quitting their residencies, almost immediately worn down by the grueling labor conditions. The long, hectic hours represented on the show are accurate to real-life residents’ working conditions.
While Korean labor law dictates that workers can work a maximum of 52 hours per week, medical interns and residents can legally work up to 88 hours per week and up to 36-hour shifts. In reality, some trainee doctors work over 100 hours per week. Trainee doctors constitute 30% to 45% of the physician workforce in major teaching hospitals, part of a system that relies on resident and interns’ cheap labor to offset the low reimbursement rates set by the government’s single-payer National Health Insurance System.
While Resident Playbook sees its characters reassured once they receive their first paycheck, trainee doctors earn around $2,250 to $2,900 per month, including overtime pay. With the long hours, the hourly rate can dip below minimum wage. This reality plays a role in interns and residents’ strong opposition to Yoon’s healthcare reform proposal, as they want this long standing issue of trainee doctors’ labor conditions and government-set low reimbursement rates to be adequately addressed before medical school quotas are increased.
Resident Playbook’s global ratings
The timing of Resident Playbook’s release during the ongoing medical crisis has not deterred viewers—the series earned solid ratings on tvN. The first episode earned a 3.68% rating, according to Nielsen Korean. It was the highest rated show in its time slot. While Resident Playbook’s premiere rating is lower than Hospital Playlist’s 6.3% premiere rating in 2020, it is higher than the 1.7% premiere rating earned by The Potato Lab, which previously held the time slot.
Globally, Resident Playbook has found success on Netflix, where it is currently in the Global Top Ten, at the time of this writing. It rose to the Korea Top Ten on Netflix within two days of its launch.
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