Australian healthcare

.... Is amazing! Without trying to be political, I have to share my experience of going to the doctor here.

First off, I probably shouldn't have been gallivanting around in the cold rain all last weekend because by Monday I had a cough. By Wednesday I was in bad shape and pretty much crawled into bed the minute I got home from work. Lesson learned: I'll just stay home next time!

But anyway, Australia has universal healthcare; it's available to permanent residents and citizens. Since we're neither of those, we have private insurance. But we still go to the same doctors everyone else does, and it's very efficient. Here are some of the things I noticed about going to the doctor this week:

• I called for an appointment at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon, and they got me into the doctor the next morning. There was no squeezing me in - I had a proper appointment time. And they apologized that they couldn't get me in that afternoon when I called!
• There weren't any nurses. The doctor came out to the waiting room to get me and then did all the things a nurse usually does, like taking my temperature, etc. It threw me off at first, since I wasn't sure why a nurse in a suit was chatting with me.
• I only had to wait about 4 minutes. Then, since the doctor was the one who brought me back to the exam room, I didn't have to wait on him. I was in and out of my whole appointment in 20 minutes.
• The doctor typed everything into my file in the computer while we talked. Then he printed out my prescription right from the exam room. Nothing handwritten. It felt like being at the doctor in the 21st century! Crazy!

Needless to say, my small sampling of the medical system here doesn't make me an expert. But I certainly don't look at going to the doctor with the same dread as I did in the States! A 20 minute doctor visit is hard to beat. =)

On the other hand, this is the sign by the lift in the doctor's office. Guess not everything is cutting edge!

 

And yes, I did make it out of the elevator without incident. Hooray!

 

Posted with Blogsy