By Emily Connor
I recently went to get my eyes examined. Since Japan has socialized health insurance, people get the choice of going to a private practitioner or a hospital for the same price. A friend one told me that university associated hospitals are the best place to go for any health related issues, so I decided to visit one for the first time.
The hospital I visited specializes in ocular care, and so all of the patients there are filed into one large room with eight to ten different eye chart stations set up, all patients sitting next to one another. Since most of the people there were elderly, doing a seeing-eye chart was no easy feat. All of the people surrounding me were literally screaming out their answers to the chart to the point where it was difficult for me to hear myself think. After finishing up my seeing-eye chart examination, I was escorted to another waiting room area until my name was called for the second part of my eye examination. Everything was very quick, very proficient and within one hour I was in and out of the hospital, despite the fact that there were probably at least forty other people there. I even managed to get some prescription eye drops while I was there.
I suppose the point of this blog is to talk about how although the doctors and nurses I've come across in Japan aren't very personable or overly-friendly, they really get the job done quickly. I remember going to the doctors back home in the US and having to wait a long time in the lobby, and then wait another long amount of time inside the actual examination room only for a nurse to finally come in and announce that the doctor would be in 'in a few minutes' which often took up to a whole half an hour. Also, dentists in Japan don't talk to you while they have implements in your mouth-- there is no random chit-chat, they simply do their job. I love it.
Maybe a lot of people feel nervous when visiting the doctor, so they really enjoy talking with the nurses and doctors as a way to ease the tension. I just don't happen to be one of them. I go to the doctor to take care of my health, not to share my life story which no doctor genuinely cares about anyway. I'll never forget the time I was getting a cavity filled and I was pumped up with Novocain and the dentist still insisted on asking about my plans for the summer and what I was going to do later that day. You have sharp tools in my mouth, Ma'am. Please focus on your job at hand! I've only been to the dentist once in Japan and let me tell you, that man was silent as a mouse as he examined my mouth. That's the way it should be.
If you don't mind getting your eyes examined in front of a bunch of strangers, then Japanese health care is most certainly for you. It's quick, cheap, and gets the job done. Great success.
I recently went to get my eyes examined. Since Japan has socialized health insurance, people get the choice of going to a private practitioner or a hospital for the same price. A friend one told me that university associated hospitals are the best place to go for any health related issues, so I decided to visit one for the first time.
The hospital I visited specializes in ocular care, and so all of the patients there are filed into one large room with eight to ten different eye chart stations set up, all patients sitting next to one another. Since most of the people there were elderly, doing a seeing-eye chart was no easy feat. All of the people surrounding me were literally screaming out their answers to the chart to the point where it was difficult for me to hear myself think. After finishing up my seeing-eye chart examination, I was escorted to another waiting room area until my name was called for the second part of my eye examination. Everything was very quick, very proficient and within one hour I was in and out of the hospital, despite the fact that there were probably at least forty other people there. I even managed to get some prescription eye drops while I was there.
I suppose the point of this blog is to talk about how although the doctors and nurses I've come across in Japan aren't very personable or overly-friendly, they really get the job done quickly. I remember going to the doctors back home in the US and having to wait a long time in the lobby, and then wait another long amount of time inside the actual examination room only for a nurse to finally come in and announce that the doctor would be in 'in a few minutes' which often took up to a whole half an hour. Also, dentists in Japan don't talk to you while they have implements in your mouth-- there is no random chit-chat, they simply do their job. I love it.
Maybe a lot of people feel nervous when visiting the doctor, so they really enjoy talking with the nurses and doctors as a way to ease the tension. I just don't happen to be one of them. I go to the doctor to take care of my health, not to share my life story which no doctor genuinely cares about anyway. I'll never forget the time I was getting a cavity filled and I was pumped up with Novocain and the dentist still insisted on asking about my plans for the summer and what I was going to do later that day. You have sharp tools in my mouth, Ma'am. Please focus on your job at hand! I've only been to the dentist once in Japan and let me tell you, that man was silent as a mouse as he examined my mouth. That's the way it should be.
If you don't mind getting your eyes examined in front of a bunch of strangers, then Japanese health care is most certainly for you. It's quick, cheap, and gets the job done. Great success.
Very interesting topics.I am looking this type of topics, I need more informations because everyone knows "Health is wealth" is very much known to all and everyone wants good health.That means no one wants to leave this wealth. So, Let us build a food habit discipline, keep pace with work, rest and or exercise to Achieve good health, The ultimate wealth.