Minimum character limit - Decrease from 5 (too high)

Whilst there are a number of reasons why I believe the minimum character limit was increased to 5 with a view to encouraging fuller/detail-rich responses, there are a number of reasons why 5 is too many. Particularly, questions that are not relevant can no longer be 'skipped' with N/A, yes or no responses are no longer acceptable answers, and terms such as 'UTI' or 'STD' or other equally well-known and widely used 3/4-letter abbreviations are also no longer acceptable terminology. Patients are filling up our requests with absolute nonsense or abuse due to the limitation.