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non-adventure in swedish healthcare
Jun. 4th, 2002 12:32 amwell, I finally got my vaccinations today.
I went to the hospital for the "open hours" vaccination clinic. I was annoyed to have to do this, since I would have preferred to go to the City Clinic's vaccination department.
I had already been to the Citykliniken Vaccinationsmottagningen. It was bright and clean and new and the people that worked there were so friendly, everyone was smiling and happy and the service there was great. I told the receptionist there that I was going to work in Israel and she spoke of Israel with fondness and said it was her dream to go back (she'd worked there one year as a tourguide) and visit Petra, an awe-inspiring ancient city carved into sandstone in Jordan.
I came back a few days later for my appointment, and met with a similarly friendly nurse. But it was not to be -- she saw my list of food allgeries and didn't want to risk injecting me with something I might react badly to. (Especially since many vaccines are cultured in albumin, sometimes from eggwhite, which I am allergic to). She directed to me to the hospiral, where they would have more "preparations." I wasn't sure if she meant drug preparations known to be egg-free, or preparations for dealing with alergic reactions. Anyway, I was disappointed -- I wanted to get everything in order for my trip to the middle east, and I don't really like the hassle, institutionalism, and lurking sickness of hospitals. Besides, the City clinic was so cheery -- like tha Tang center!
At the hospital there were two options: I could book an appointment with a doctor, or come to "open hours" operated by a private company. I didn't feel like waiting for an appointment with a doctor, so I resigned myself to the open houses. The "Infektionskliniken" appeared a dimly lit hallway of 60's era institutionalized medicine, and the receptionist there wasn't particularly helpful, being more eager to provide me with "information" than listen to my questions -- in short, it reminded me of the Oakland public hospital. I wasn't at all enthusiastic about patronizing a privately operated service, either.
So I got there today and got my queue number and sat on the floor (which seemed quite uncivilized) and read about particle physics until my turn came. When it finally came, I was quite pleasantly surprised. The doctor I met with was quite friendly and conversational and, moreover, seemed quite happy and eager to be at work helping people get vaccinated. In fact he was almost a carriacture of the Typical Swede, I mean the way the Swedes represent themselves in their cartoons. He was quite chatty and I spoke just Swedish -- he even said I spoke otroligt bra svenska, unbelievably good swedish. He even pointed out my scar from a tuberculosis innoculation long, long ago -- a scar I didn't even know I had! It was a moderately X-files-esque moment. He also gave me a neat little yellow passport-like booklet from WHO for listing vaccinations. What a great idea! I'm always needing to dig up my vaccination history for various reasons, and only recently did I make a nice reference list for myself. The nice doctor guy also pointed out that their little private vaccination group sold all of the vaccinations at cost, and then added a SEK 250 fee for the whole experience, so that they had no financial incentive to tell people to get vaccinations they didn't really need. Seemed like a good system to me.
Then I actually got my injections. Three shots in the left arm took less than a minute and was completely painless (although now it kinda hurts).
Oddly enough this is one thing that my insurance from home pays for but the Swedish system does not (although the city clinic does offer a 20% student rebate, and doesn't charge a service fee, so it comes out to about SEK 200 per vaccination -- about $20. And I think if I had made an appointment at the hospital, it would have been covered by the swedish system, at least if I were Swedish). So I had to pay SEK 673 (yikes!) and hopefully Blue Cross will give me some of it back.
I'm one step closer to Israel. I'll be there on Sunday!
I went to the hospital for the "open hours" vaccination clinic. I was annoyed to have to do this, since I would have preferred to go to the City Clinic's vaccination department.
I had already been to the Citykliniken Vaccinationsmottagningen. It was bright and clean and new and the people that worked there were so friendly, everyone was smiling and happy and the service there was great. I told the receptionist there that I was going to work in Israel and she spoke of Israel with fondness and said it was her dream to go back (she'd worked there one year as a tourguide) and visit Petra, an awe-inspiring ancient city carved into sandstone in Jordan.
I came back a few days later for my appointment, and met with a similarly friendly nurse. But it was not to be -- she saw my list of food allgeries and didn't want to risk injecting me with something I might react badly to. (Especially since many vaccines are cultured in albumin, sometimes from eggwhite, which I am allergic to). She directed to me to the hospiral, where they would have more "preparations." I wasn't sure if she meant drug preparations known to be egg-free, or preparations for dealing with alergic reactions. Anyway, I was disappointed -- I wanted to get everything in order for my trip to the middle east, and I don't really like the hassle, institutionalism, and lurking sickness of hospitals. Besides, the City clinic was so cheery -- like tha Tang center!
At the hospital there were two options: I could book an appointment with a doctor, or come to "open hours" operated by a private company. I didn't feel like waiting for an appointment with a doctor, so I resigned myself to the open houses. The "Infektionskliniken" appeared a dimly lit hallway of 60's era institutionalized medicine, and the receptionist there wasn't particularly helpful, being more eager to provide me with "information" than listen to my questions -- in short, it reminded me of the Oakland public hospital. I wasn't at all enthusiastic about patronizing a privately operated service, either.
So I got there today and got my queue number and sat on the floor (which seemed quite uncivilized) and read about particle physics until my turn came. When it finally came, I was quite pleasantly surprised. The doctor I met with was quite friendly and conversational and, moreover, seemed quite happy and eager to be at work helping people get vaccinated. In fact he was almost a carriacture of the Typical Swede, I mean the way the Swedes represent themselves in their cartoons. He was quite chatty and I spoke just Swedish -- he even said I spoke otroligt bra svenska, unbelievably good swedish. He even pointed out my scar from a tuberculosis innoculation long, long ago -- a scar I didn't even know I had! It was a moderately X-files-esque moment. He also gave me a neat little yellow passport-like booklet from WHO for listing vaccinations. What a great idea! I'm always needing to dig up my vaccination history for various reasons, and only recently did I make a nice reference list for myself. The nice doctor guy also pointed out that their little private vaccination group sold all of the vaccinations at cost, and then added a SEK 250 fee for the whole experience, so that they had no financial incentive to tell people to get vaccinations they didn't really need. Seemed like a good system to me.
Then I actually got my injections. Three shots in the left arm took less than a minute and was completely painless (although now it kinda hurts).
Oddly enough this is one thing that my insurance from home pays for but the Swedish system does not (although the city clinic does offer a 20% student rebate, and doesn't charge a service fee, so it comes out to about SEK 200 per vaccination -- about $20. And I think if I had made an appointment at the hospital, it would have been covered by the swedish system, at least if I were Swedish). So I had to pay SEK 673 (yikes!) and hopefully Blue Cross will give me some of it back.
I'm one step closer to Israel. I'll be there on Sunday!
