Minor pedestrian versus car accidents and a little bit of German language & medical culture

[greywash]

My setting is present day (2013), Germany (Frankfurt am Main); technically Sherlock fandom but that's largely irrelevant; emergency room/A&E or other walk-in clinic where you might go after an accident. My character is John Watson, so he has a medical background and I'd like him be to some extent self-diagnosing-that part is plot relevant. I

Comments

[xenia_27]

I can help you a bit with German prescription thing.
It's a standard pink scrap of paper with a stamp and a signature from a doctor. There are also blue ones. On those you get prescriptions for the drugs that are not covered by insurance and that you have to pay for yourself.
You have to take prescription personally to the pharmacy, which very often is in the same building wjth the emergency room (at least where I live). But they can give you some small amount of the painkillers with you right away. When I had dental sergery I got a mix of paracetamol amd codeine as a painkiller afterwards.

[gelbes_gilatier]

There are also blue ones. On those you get prescriptions for the drugs that are not covered by insurance and that you have to pay for yourself.

I thought those were green?

[lizzardgirl]

The blue ones are for patients who are private patients or who are treated as private patients. (Needed so they can get later re-imbursed with their health plan providers, if it covers that.) The red ones are for prescriptions that the insurance company will cover and you only have to pay the prescription fee. (Needed for the insurance companies so they know what they're paying and for whom.) The green ones are for patients who are insurance-covered but who are getting a prescription that is not. (So technically not needed but for convenience.) Oh and then there are the old-fashioned doctors who still handwrite on white prescription pads! (Yes, I have filled a lot of prescriptions in my life for family members on various forms of insurance and with access to a wide variety of doctors!)

[greywash]

Very helpful, thank you. So someone who wants to pay cash, because they don't want the visit to be on the record, blue paper, I take it?

on prescriptions in German ERs

[anonymous]

Mind you, I'm not a doctor, so someone else with more knowledge might know better, but: the last time I was in ER (with a minor kidney problem), they gave me meds to get through the night and told me that they cannot prescribe anything, but that I had to see my doctor in the morning. I heard similar stories from other people. Basically, most hospitals aren't legally allowed to make prescriptions-but there seem to be exceptions to that.

However, if Watson saw an emergency doctor outside a hospital/in his practice (there is always someone on duty covering a certain area), this doctor could give him a prescription. This would be one of those paper slips that he'd have to take to the pharmacy.

I never spent more than 24 consecutive hours in a hospital, but never have I heard any announcements, whether staying or visiting, in bigger cities or smaller towns.

Re: on prescriptions in German ERs

[greywash]

Basically, most hospitals aren't legally allowed to make prescriptions-but there seem to be exceptions to that.

Oh wow, that's really interesting, thank you-I don't need him to be given a prescription, I just need details about how it works, so this is very helpful-thanks!

[anonymous]

I'm German, living in Germany, but not a medical professional at all and have never had a rib fracture, so I can't speak to the really medical facts of this. However, I've had drug prescriptions before, so I can at least help there. We don't technically distinguish between drugs that you pick up 'over the counter' or others. All your medicine, you pick up at a pharmacy (unless it's things that are more lifestyle than actual medicine, like vitamin supplements, you can get those at the chemists'). There is a difference however between medication that you can get only with a prescription, medication that your insurance will subsidise and that you only have to pay a prescription fee for (5 euros, though I guess if you have British characters, not applicable) and medicine that needs no prescription and that your insurance won't cover (most homoeopathic stuff, etc). Doctors, however, are likely to write a prescription regardless of what category the medication falls under. I don't think they actually get money per written prescription,

[lizzardgirl]

LJ logged me out, that was me.

[greywash]

Oh man, this is so helpful, thank you so much!

[anonymous]

The handout thing does happen, but I wouldn't expect it in a hospital, and not with painkillers (especially not with prescription painkillers). I've only had it happen to me at the practice of a dermatologist, with some samples of antimycotic salve and shampoo. Doctors get these samples from sales representatives of drug companies who want to push new products (most otc painkillers are so long established that the patent restrictions have long run out, so no company cares about uincreasing sales). I might also have been more likely to get these samples thrown at me because I'm privately insured (which is much better for the doctor in that he can bill whatever he can talk the patient into and not just a limited list of procedures, and he gets his money far more quickly than with the quarterly payments from the state insurances - so dpctors like to keep private patients coming back to their practice) and because of "vitamin C". (As in: connections. All doctors and pharmacists in a mid-sized town will know each other, and I was going to

[lied_ohne_worte]

I can't say anything about the medical details

[lizzardgirl]

I think I had a doctor once write me a prescription slip for aspirin - but I think it was something like her third day and she didn't want to make a rookie mistake.

[lied_ohne_worte]

So far, I've either gotten the really strong stuff (as a teenager after a foot operation I got something that was somehow related to valium, took it a day, was totally woozy and decided not to take it again when they did the other foot), or no painkillers whatsoever (after wisdom teeth).

[lizzardgirl]

I once started running into things after half a paracetamol pill, so I tried to avoid the heavy duty stuff after that. Luckily (fingers crossed) I haven't had anything that would require heavy dosage yet.

[naked_runner]

Didn't spend so much time in hospitals either, but from what I've seen and know, in Germany the medical staff gets each like a pager or phone when starting the shift, and this is how they get called where they are needed. They kept them a place near the reception, from what I saw. Didn't hear any announcements like that either. I can imagine such a type of announcement with "May I get your attention please..." only if there would be, for example, a fire and everyone has to get evacuated or so. Keeping in mind that here people are very particular about keeping it quiet and not disturb others, like patients, don't think they would be allowed to make such loud announcements. Whatever hospital I was in, here, never actually heard any background announcements or anything like that.

[greywash]

Hm, okay, interesting-thank you. I'll think about how to execute that, then; I essentially just need a fragment of German language that might be overheard while not engaging very directly with anyone. What about overhearing a nurse or doctor in the corridor? I definitely feel like in the ERs I've been in in the U.S., I was actually more likely to hear (relatively low volume) announcements more than actual discussion between staff that wasn't directly about my care, but people are so litigious about privacy stuff here, it might just be an artifact of that...

[naemi]

He could indeed overhear nurses in the corridor, or maybe the nurses' office/room. Over here, I think that would make more sense than an announcement =)

[lizzardgirl]

If you want something that wouldn't be disclosing private stuff (they're *supposed* to be discreet here too, but it depends on the people and how much of an effort they make.), but would still be something that hospital staff might say, you could go for something like 'Ich hab hier die Laborwerte -' (I've got the lab work here), 'Wo sollen die Röntgenbilder -?' (What with these x-rays -?) 'Wir brauchen in der Eins ein großes Blutbild -' (We need detailled bloodwork in room/bed one)