Health Care in Japan

This week I've been dealing with a minor health issue. Nate has impetigo, a skin infection, on his face. Luckily, Neosporin seems to be taking care of it but for a while I thought that I would need to take him to the doctor. In Cincinnati, that would involve calling our family doctor and making an appointment, driving to the doctor's office and waiting a few minutes and then stopping at the pharmacy on the way home. Things work much differently here!

In Japan, the lowest level of care is the general practitioner. People go to this office for cold and flu symptoms, earaches, etc. Kind of like one of the 15 minute clinics at home. For anything more serious/specialized or often in place of going the the GP, people head to the hospital. Matt is always amazed that his co-workers are constantly going to the hospital for various aliments! Some specialists do have their own offices, as well. However, all of the care is clinic style. There are no appointments (except at the dentist!). Instead, they have open hours from 9-12 each morning. Patients are generally seen on a first come/first serve basis and it is not uncommon to wait for an hour or two to be seen. Most offices also have late afternoon hours from 4-7. Often these are reserved for returning patients or specialized services.

Doctors tend to be very conservative with medication here. Generally you will only receive 3-5 days worth of an antibiotic. If your infection is not better, you are expected to return to the office at that point. This is especially true for children, as the doctors want to make sure that they are closely monitored. Doctors never prescribe medications over the phone. They definitely want you to come in! Also, Japanese mothers are much less likely to try to play "Dr. Mom" at home. At the first sign of a fever or other illness, they seek treatment at a clinic or hospital. I was very suprised the other day one when the mom of one of Katie's friends said she had taken her daughter to the hospital over the weekend because of a low grade fever!

Japan does have socialized medicine and the emphasis is definitely on prevention here. People wearing surgical style masks are such a common sight here that no one looks twice! The care is much less expensive than in the U.S. An MRI may only be $100 and an office visit plus two types of medication was about $45. (That was the entire cost, not just my copay!) However, the doctors and hospitals are cash only, so you have to make sure you always have enough money in reserve, just in case.

The thing that was the oddest for me was that you are expected to take off your shoes when entering a doctor's office. The offices have sterilizers with slippers inside. You take off your shoes at the door and put on the slippers. I don't know why it felt so weird but it definitely drove home to me that I was in another country! (I had a sinus infection that I had treated about 3 weeks after we arrived). Many of the doctors near where we live speak English, however the front desk staff often doesn't. This can make things very confusing!

Our plan is to try to take care of all of our routine medical care in the U.S., but we will need to use the local care for urgent things. Luckily, the consensus here is that the care is very good, just time consuming and the attitudes of the medical personnel a bit antiquated. I feel very lucky to be in a place where I can trust the medical care. I was talking to a nurse who lived in Shanghai for 2 years and this level of care is definitely not the standard in Asia as a whole!