**Warning: there are medical terms in this post. There is nothing particularly graphic but I am a gynecologist so remember my idea of graphic language might be relative. **
One of the things I really like about living in Australia is that it's like living in Canada in a parallel universe with warmer weather, palm trees and marsupials. There are many times I think I understand things or it seems similar to home but then there will be a twist. This is often evident in my medical world.
Here are a few examples:
Going to the OR = Going to "theatre" - this sounds ridiculously more posh than the OR. I feel like I should wear a ball gown not scrubs and have learned to contain my giggles every time anybody says it...especially in front of patients, don't worry. Patients are usually distracted by my accent anyway.
Dr. Morris = Amanda - they don't go by Doctor here - everyone uses their first names with patients and with families. I'm not totally sure I love this but it's interesting. Even my supervisor who is head of the department uses her first name. I am slowly getting used to this.
Cesarean section = Caesar. I keep thinking that they are talking about the tomato juice cocktail and it also makes me laugh. Can I get you a Caesar?
Fascia = Sheath.
Tylenol = Panadol
Lupron = Zolidex
Ibuprofen = Neophin
every OCP I've ever used = different name
Vagina = Fanny (seriously!! If only I could convince people to call all body parts by their appropriate names!!!!!) Kids think it's hilarious when I tell them that fanny means butt in Canada.
Pregnant = Up the Duff (hee hee hee)
Public Health Care = Combined Public/Private Hybrid System. I am SO SO SO thankful we live in Canada. You might wait slightly longer for a hip replacement but other than that you know that everyone is treated the same. All Australian citizens are entitled to Medicare but there is private health care on top of that which the government encourages people to use to take the burden off the system. This means that some people look at health care like a consumer product which, in my opinion, does not work well. It also seems to cause people to have a lot of extra personal costs when caring for themselves and their families (ex: an ultrasound outside of the public hospital will be about $150). A lot of private health care only reimburses a portion of these costs. As an outsider it seems like a very complicated system. Royal Children's is a public hospital so that part is a lot easier for me since all the patients are covered by Medicare.
Antibiotics are often given out in 7 day dosages and people need to go back for a refill. This is interesting for me since I can't imagine some of my patients going back to the pharmacy to get a second set of antibiotics. It seems like inappropriate antibiotic stewardship to me and the breeding of resistance but people tell me that Aussie's are just used to having to go back. Just an interesting difference.
There is a big reliance on GPs for primary care. The Pap guidelines here are to screen patients every 2 years and patients get a letter to their house saying that they are due for another Pap test. I see a few adult obstetrics and gynecology patients and if they need a Pap we send them back to their GP! This seems crazy to me since they are sitting right in front of me but that is the practice.
They have stickers here instead of stamping a patients information into the pages of their chart. I LOVE this and wish we had it back home. I know it's not as environmentally friendly but stickers are fun :). (although really are the plastic stamps all that environmentally friendly...food for thought)
Some things are comfortingly similar:
Registrars (residents) have their academic half-day on Friday afternoon, the computer system is confusing, only one person knows how to work it, and only half the people who are supposed to come actually show up. (Thank you to the great registrars that did come to my presentation though!)
Ultrasonographers are not interested in getting you an ultrasound when you want one on a patient when there is a reasonable indication to do so. Then when they get it and there is something interesting they forget that they didn't want to do it.
Emergency will call you with a problem they "think is gyne" but when asked for a diagnosis that might be related to the patients symptoms (which are completely unrelated to their periods) they keep saying "gyne...vagina....gyne...i don't know....who will take her if you don't....what am I supposed to do with her...gyne"
Children's OR has a loose association with time - that seems to be the same everywhere and I am comforted by the consistency. Last week I had a 1:30 case that started at 5:15.
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