When I go to my doctor here he doesn't even write anything down unless it is serious, and I hardly ever have anything serious. You make an appointment through his answering service, go see him and it is just him, no nurse, not support staff just him. He pokes his head into the waiting room to call you in, he sits behind his desk and asks what you are there for and after listening you step into like a little alcove and hop on his exam table and he examines you. Afterwards you go back to his desk and he writes out his orders. I mean really what is the point of writing up, "She has a urinary infection" into a record that nobody is ever going to read anyway. He just writes a prescription or maybe an order for a lab test and that is it. When we get lab tests here, all done through private labs that are as plentiful as pharmacies, you go pick up your own lab results. You only even bring them back to the doctor if there is something really out of wack on them. The lab tests tell you what is normal and then shows you your results. All the patients keep their own records of lab tests and if you need to when you go to the doctor, you just bring them with you. In other words the patients themselves keep their own records. I like it this way, there is no waste in this system. Labs do not send results to the doctor, patients go get them themselves. I know it is a wee bit off topic but since this is your profession thought you might be interested.
When I went to see the orthopedic surgeon for my bad hip I brought my x-rays with me (patients even keep their own x-rays & ultasound records) and he didn't even want to see them, he siad they don't tell you that much. He examined me by moving my leg around asking if it hurt (it hurt!). Then he said I should have a hip replacement any time I wanted it. I could have one now or I could have one later, everything was on me when I was in enough pain that I wanted it done. I made the surgical appointment during the exam and that was that. I had it done about 6 weeks later. It's beautiful, no insurance companies get involved at all it's just what you and your doctor decide is best. AND I get no bills at all, never ever a bill from the doctor or the hospital or the labs, I have my medical card that has a chip in it, and they just slide that credit card like thing into their macines and that is it. Can you imagine life without ever seeing a doctor bill or a hospital bill or an ambulance bill? It's real nice. I have a supplemnatl policy for around 400 Euros a month that covers both Nico & I and that covers us 100% for everything even pharmacy. the supplemental insurance is some how inside that chip, even when you change supplemental companies it's all recorded somewhere through that chip and everything just runs smooth.
My mother in law in the last year of her life lived in a brand new full service nursing home, brand spanking new with great food and activities throughout the day, cost 2,000 a month and she didn't even have to pay that since she was poor. My mom who just went into a very nice nursing home, $11,000 a month. Okay yeah we do have high taxes here but at LEAST we get something out of it. I live my life without ever worrying that a major illness will put me in bankruptcy. Yup full pharmacy included.
