Yes, if only I could get Americans to realize that the "socialist" universal healthcare was a good system. It amazes me how the complaint is about that is the "waitlist" while it can be months before they can make an appt to see the MD....the cognitive dissonance is strong in this country.

Take care, speedy recovery.

R

Hi Rachel

Theatre nurses - in bygone days surgeons would operate on patients in front of medical  students who sat around on tiers not unlike a theatre so Britain and their colonies who had not declared independence like USA retains the term Operating Theatre. But I am sure you knew that.

Operating Room in Canada.  We have retained ties with Britain and the Commonwealth but our use of language is more influenced by our proximity to the "elephant" to the south.

Mike before I was wheeled into the Operating Theatre from the pre-op ward, the surgeon (aka the registrar), and the anaesthetist talked to me individually. They mentioned that medical students would be present when I was being operated on. 

And in the few minutes I can remember being in the operating theatre, I could see numerous masked and gowned medics around me. Too many to count in the time before I succumbed to the anaesthetic. A dozen or more.

So at least in the public hospital system, there can still be quite a sizeable student audience present during an operation. But no longer seated on tiers. 

And interestingly, the anaesthetist had a very distinctive American accent. Turns out he’s an Australian married to an American and he’d been living/working in the USA for quite a while. Back home now though.

So possibly part of the mini reverse diaspora currently underway from the USA to Australia. 

Hi Graham

We have the top private hospital cover. Mary fainted at a working bee at The Ferny Creek Horticultural Society and was whisked down to the local public hospital accompanied by a former nurse who got her speedily through triage and she got all the tests which revealed nothing of consequence. She could not remember whether she was asked about private cover but a few days later she got an email from the private insurer asking about her experience at the public hospital. I suspect that here in Victoria if you have private cover the public hospital sends a bill to the insurer.

Mike I’m not sure exactly how the public-private overlap works here. 

We have basic hospital insurance cover, and I was about to ‘go private’ for the hernia op (indeed I’d already contacted a gastroenterologist on referral from my GP) when I got the call from the public system to say that I’d moved far enough along in the queue to have the op as a public Medicare patient. On admission, all I had to do was show my Medicare card. They didn’t ask me about insurance.