Aussie Medical

We had our first experience with the Aussie medical system/socialized medicine last week since Micah was not getting better and seemed to be getting more miserable. Here in AU everyone sees a general practitioner - doesn't matter what's wrong with you or your age. Kids typically don't see a pediatrician unless the GP says you need to see one and that's usually if your child has a chronic illness or needs more specialized care. There's no emergency m.d. appts - if you find that you need a doctor asap, you must call and make an appt. and hope they have one soon. One GP we called on Thursday didn't have an appt til Monday, another wasn't taking new patients. We finally found a doctor that could see Micah the same day. Appts were scheduled for 20 minute blocks. The wait for the doctor wasn't long and we ended up waiting with an elderly woman and a teenage boy. The room we saw the doctor in was both her formal office and her examining room which I thought was odd. The only things that were a bit confusing about the visit was figuring out the AU equivalent to Tylenol and Motrin and trying to convert kg to lbs. :) We were in and out quick and all in all it wasn't too traumatizing an experience. Micah got his antibiotics from the chemist (pharmacist) and we were on our way to health! :) At least that's one less thing I have to worry about - next time we need a doctor we know who and where to call! :)