|
Huh, that's quite interesting, thanks for the thorough explanation. I live in Argentina, and it works quite differently. Patients wait outside the doctor's office, the doctor will call them in, examine, and prescribe any study, treatment or medication necessary.
The patient leaves and the doctor remains in the room. If the patient needed some study (eg: some scan, blood test, etc), they'll need to head to the hospital's lab with the order and get it done there (or you can go to another hospital if you prefer, though I don't think this is common at all).
If there's a medicine prescription, then the patient will have to go to a pharmacist and get it himself, again, with that order. Private hospitals are paid by each patient they see (and studies are paid separately), either by the patient or their health plan.
Public hospitals are free, though they may charge some studies/supplies. Some public hospitals won't attend you for free if you have a health plan and will instead force you to use it instead. I'm not sure which system is faster, but there's no nurse involved in general when just seeing the doctor, which must make a difference (eg: less personnel), and it's the patients who move around instead of the employees. |