Third call: Is anyone gonna answer my question? Does Taiwan have PAs and nurse practitioners?
So Taiwan needs more doctors.
If you ask they’ll give you up to six days’ worth.
I can’t say with confidence that is going to solve it as it will also drive up costs. NHI is very costly even as is. Maybe a better triage system could be the best solution.
I did a brief search and found this document.
Once I get the proper Chinese term, I could do a Google or Wikipedia Chinese search with the help of Google Translate and chrome.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272842384_Physician_assistants_in_Taiwan
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When I went in I was told that if I had no local family or friends the nurses would be told to help me out. I’m sure they would give me the best of care though , being forced into service to clean my diaper and all /s
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good article.
I will also add, although the doctors in taiwan are world class, they are still not on the level as say USA, Germany, UK, France, Switzerland. One reason i think is I don’t think the doctors here stay up to date on medical knowledge as much and are not as willing to change their minds. This, of course, is not only by Taiwanese doctors by any means. I’ve encountered that in the US as well.
Medical knowledge is always changing, and there are many fields of medicine to where many doctors end up being rather ignorant on a certain field they know very little about.
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I am not sure whether or not I’ve shared my medical stories here, but this is one that is worth mentioning. I had a searing pain in my lower back for probably a few weeks, which made riding my scooter between jobs agony and working nearly impossible. I saw some local GPs. They poked and prodded and provided me with some painkillers but nothing got better, in fact things got worse.
Now, by the standards of my country of origin, I would have had to wait at least a week even to see a GP, and then 2 to 6 months to get my referral to a specialist. However, in Taiwan, it was very easy for me to go in and immediately 掛號 to meet a specialist (dermatologist) for the same day. Actually within an hour.
After waiting for less than 10 minutes, I was invited into the room of the doctor who was a specialist in dermatology. As it was a teaching hospital, there were around 3 interns who were watching the procedure. I had to pull down my pants and show where the pain was located. The Taiwanese doctor knew exactly, after a brief glance, what I read talking about and what the problem was. I was embarrassed about showing my arse to the interns but was grateful for the diagnosis, which the GPs had not had any clue about. She told me to sit outside to wait for my appointment for surgery to get rid of what she called a cyst.
// My point at this time is that none of the general practitioners were able to diagnose accurately my condition. Now, I do NOT, blame local GPs for their incorrect diagnoses of this condition, as it is not one that appears in Taiwanese patients. It is one that is specific to population that is very very small in Taiwan and it’s not a general or usual diagnosis. In fact it was the first diagnosis in this hospital, which is a famous teaching Hospital. This gives even more credence to the skills and care of the physicians in this example.//
In continuing the story, I waited patiently outside expecting that I would have to see a surgeon in at least a month or, optimistically, a few weeks. The doctor herself came out and told me that surgery would would begin in 10 minutes. I was flabbergasted!! After less than 10 minutes I was asked to come in and the cyst was removed. Not only that, actually, to my great surprise, a plastic surgeon was called over to do my stitching in order to make the scar disappear in order to make it less obvious. Now, this the operation was done very low on my back, very near my crack, so of no concern to me at all the terms of scars. However, the hospital insisted that I received the best of care. All in all, I have nothing but the best of praise for the NHI and for the top tier care I received.
Total cost, including initial consult, surgery, plastic surgeon consult, and meds … less than 1000 NTD. Best of all, completely cured! I definitely have reaped the benefits of my 健保卡！
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They are generally very strict with painkillers.
I have a minor skin condition that the docs here just haven’t been able to cure or even diagnose effectively. It’s very frustrating but I’m trying not to blame the docs I do wonder though if they just don’t have enough experience with Caucasians or people of my genetic background to diagnose it . Otherwise my experience has mostly been excellent in getting rapid access to hospital services and treatment.
There was the time that the doc said I could have some kind of tumour because I was having hearing problems in my left ear. Batteries of tests revealed nothing. Subsequently i found out myself I wasnt getting enough deep sleep due to caffeine intake As long as I cut out coffee later in the day and went to bed early it resolved itself (the power of sleep to rejuvenate us is underappreciated).
The doc had never asked me simple questions about lifestyle, sleep and what food and drink I was eating if I recall correctly. He just asked if I had allergies. He didn’t take enough time to ask enough questions.
Ive been involved with clinical research groups and let me tell you there are a lot of top clinical scientists in Taiwan and many big hospitals have very strong scientific capability. That includes the university hospitals but also Changgeng Hospital .
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in Chinese
專科護理師於醫師監督下執行醫療業務辦法
about PA (臨床助理)
衛福部審慎規劃臨床助理制度，呼籲各界提供建言切勿以訛傳訛 in 2016
https://www.mohw.gov.tw/cp-2631-14768-1.html
醫師臨床助理作為醫師替代人力之問題
Sounds like a pilonidal cyst. I’ve also had a couple minor skin surgeries here and have nothing but good things to say about the doctors and nurses involved. These were all at hospitals. Local clinics have been terrible.
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You nailed it! Not a thing “Chinese people” generally (ever) present with. So, my kudos to the local specialists!
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Changgeng hospital and university has world class expertise in geriatric treatment and aging research including diabetes , not many of you lot would know that fortunately. Changgeng is underrated it has incredible resources at its disposable being one of the biggest private hospital groups in the world, all doctors at Changeng must pursue some research studies as part of their job.
Taiwan also has amongst the strongest metabolic screening programs of new borns worldwide having practically invented some of the tests. The Chinese medical foundation has trained many other Asian countries specialists in this area
Also there are large numbers of foreigners coming to Taiwan to get private hip and knee surgery every year. And in the area of IVF success Taiwan is also renowned. Research in liver disease also very strong.
This is not directly related to NIH but just giving folks confidence in the medical expertise available.
Korea and Hong Kong are also strong in the region in terms of their medical and scientific expertise but Taiwan is in no way worse than those two and in fact in some ways is ahead of Japan and Singapore in terms of their overall medical infrastructure .
The thing in Taiwan, just like anywhere, the national insurance just covers the core needs which it does very well. You want a better quality hip or knee joint, got to fork out. Private room, got to fork out. Access to the best drugs, that’s another topic for sure.
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Not exactly related to the topic at hand, but have you tried any derms who don’t accept jianbao? I find that for “vanity issues” like this that are persistently annoying but not necessarily life-threatening you’ve just got to be willing to shell out a bit more to see a better doc who provides more powerful medicine.
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Yep I think I have to do that. It’s probably a bit more than a vanity issue as well as it could be related to inflammation or auto immunity . Very hard to pinpoint the causes.
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Taiwan’s health system is very EFFICIENT but not EFFECTIVE as other less efficient countries.
I struggled with a health condition for years and was accompanied by my doctor for years here. Had gotten worse and worse and was told it was just my body adjusting to the new dosages etc etc. was always seen for less than a couple minutes at the doctors office and they would prescribe me the examination and medicines related.
Until I found out by myself that they had been giving me the treatment to the opposite of my condition, instead of helping me raise the levels of something in my body they were giving me the medication to decrease it as if I had excessive amounts. That almost killed me and my child when I was pregnant. This is only one of the situations it happened, and it lasted years until I found out. There were many others.
Anyways, back home I would need to wait maybe 3 days to 7 days to do an x-day, get lab results, do an MRI etc. here it is done on the same day and results right away, except for MRI. So yes, back home is slower, but doctors are much more attentive and EFFECTIVE.
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I’m just saying that’s my personal experience, including serious situations.
Unless you have reasons not to mention the name of this hospital, would you mind sharing?
Nope. Three days is all that’s needed for all but serious infections, which should be treated in hospitals rather than in clinics anyways. Your medical knowledge is out of date.