sassy_squirrel

I have to say I've been lucky with doctors on the most part. I changed a doctor coz I didn't feel he was listening to me but yeah. I usually get my lungs checked when I'm sick but that could just be coz they know I get chest infections a lot. Hope you are feeling better.

Well...I didn't get in :-( I'll try for mid year applications.

Really you got charged $36 for him to add something on the pathology form? At a medical centre? Man, I know I get charged like $10 if I want my doctor to write me a prescription but don't visit but $36 for adding to a pathology form? Glad you got most of it back from medicare but shouldn't that have been bulkbilled in the first place?

Sorry but didn't the OP say that she was friends with the patient before they were a patient? Wouldn't that mean that there is nothing to it. Or once they are a patient you have to cut your ties with your friends?

Oh Carol. I've sent you a PM. Chat to you soon. *hugs* Chin up, things will get better.

I hope I will be right to find a job when I finish nursing...

Well done Carol. I hope it works out well for you. Glad you are excited about it! You sound very happy!

Yay! Good work and good luck!

Thanks Carol. I'm hoping that I will be able to find some work within the Health Care scope while I'm studying. I'm looking every day for jobs within Health Care. Admin/PCA whatever. I also have some contacts so maybe they'll be able to help me too. One friend works at a hospital and another works at an Aged Care Home. Hope your assignments are going well.

ok so i have done some reading up on america's healthcare system. it's a bit overwhelming trying to understand it all. thanks to dthfytr for explaining it very simplistically to me. i am still curious though as to how prescriptions and doctors visits work? is it basically that you can't visit a gp without insurance, or they are just that expensive that if you don't have insurance most people can't afford to visit them? the link below explains australia's health system so maybe if someone reads that they would understand where my confusion comes from. http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/healthcare.html

Good luck!!

Yes I agree. Basic needs such as healthcare should be the most important thing politicians think about. Our healthcare system isn't perfect either and in certain areas it's worse but I admit that I do feel better having our system. Very enlightening chat. Thank you.

I've officially applied for Nursing now! Put in my application today, so now just have to wait for the results. Should hear back around November I hope. I'm going to do it via distance education through UniSA as I'll be living in Tasmania by the time I start and it won't be too much of a flight (at least in comparison to what I usually do). Fingers crossed!!!!

Thanks Carol. Yeah I'm doing a short course at the moment through work to be able to be an assessor within the VET structure. So I know how annoying it is to be working and trying to do assignments. Hopefully though I will either be working at the mines or doing work within the Health department when/if I get into Nursing. I will PM you when I find out whether I got in or not. Hope everything else is getting better for you. Haven't heard back from you for a little while besides today .

I kinda experienced it...but from the patient side. I was sick and had to get an IV in due to dehydration. I was about 7/8 and I know I fought the nurses, no one was gonna stick me with that huge needle. They had to hold me down too - 3 people in the end I think. But then I had a phobia of nurses and doctors and needles after a doctor cut my hand open with scissors without anasthetic trying to get stitches out.

Wow. It's really your own choice whether you want Private Health Insurance in Australia. Many people do because it helps keep your Medicare Levy down in your tax refund or they want the additional benefits of private rooms, shorter waiting lists, getting to choose your own doctor at the hospital or the extras benefits (ie cheaper/free chiro, optometry, physio etc) but it has nothing to do with your job besides whether you can afford to pay the Private Health Insurance fees. You choose your own Insurer and your own benefits. Also our Private Health doesn't do medicals or anything like that. You just sign up and start paying - you might have waiting periods before you can claim certain extras. But then you don't apply for Medicare here either. Every Australian citizen has a Medicare card and can go to bulk billing doctors. If you go to a different doctor you'll still get a Medicare refund...From what I can tell it's kinda like your co-pay. Except you pay the doctor and then go to Medicare to get your refund. I guess our health system is still hard to explain too.

I even count out loud "one, two, three - locked" and repeat that three times on my doors. And tap the door three times, or pulling the door tab three times.

I think this is an issue at any workplace. However it is just that much more dangerous when you are in a position where you need to take care of other people.

I can sympathise with the coughing causing your injury. I think I sound stupid when I say that but it's the truth. I was sitting on my couch coughing and sudden pain down my spine (only 21/22) - I couldn't even breathe properly. It's better now...I still get twinges though. However I do both physio and chiro treatments. But then I also tore the muscles in between my ribs by coughing as well. It can and does happen. At the time I had chest infections (including the one that caused my back injury) and whooping cough. I do also have scoliosis (mild but diagnosed when I was 7) so that may have been a factor. I don't think people understand how far reaching back pain can be unless they have experienced it for themselves. A funny story....hmmmm this is more just silly than funny. My doctor put me on panadiene forte when I did my back the initial time (this is almost 4 years ago now) I was still at uni. It didn't remove any of my pain but just made me very fuzzy. I had an assignment due in. I do not remember writing the assignment. I have no idea if it made any sense or if it was even completed before I handed it in...I passed it though. LOL.

wow. good question 15isto2. i don't really understand america's health system either, but this has definitely given me a great insight into it. honestly i'm quite amazed at it all. no offence to any one here but i have to say i'm pretty glad i live in australia.

It's my initial Bachelor of Nursing degree. :) I'm just starting out in the Nursing world. I've just about finished my application. Just need to find my student number from my university and it's ready to go. Then I just gotta wait to hear the outcome. Fingers crossed for me please? Thanks for the offer of help.

Hi Jessie, It is a horrible feeling to feel like your brain is against you. I have to say though that I am glad to at least have a name for it and know I'm not a crazy person (well maybe I am but you know what I mean). It's also comforting to know that other people are out there with the same/similar thing. I hope it does get better for you. I haven't tried the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - simply because my doctor said she found that it simply did not work. Please feel free to message me, because I believe that just having a support network with similar people can be extremely beneficial.

This is sort of related. Sorry I'm just curious - do hospitals/LTC/Hospice have a debrief after these sort of events? Like in Police and Fire, if there is a fatality they have a debrief. There are also psychologists to talk to and also a Padre. Do your hospitals have this sort of support?

I hate the 'Are you sure...' voice in your head when you have OCD. Even when I'm sure I've done it I still have to go back and check it again. I'm hoping it will work for me when I start working as a nurse rather than against me. I think mine is pretty mild though. I can control it with anti-depressants, but it cna be annoying to be on them for so long. Stress definately makes it worse. Mine's also the counting (3's), checking (doors and locks mostly) and doing things in a certain routine.

So I think I have a plan now. I've started my application for UniSA to do Nursing via correspondence. I'll be attempting to do a Venipuncture course at the end of this month. And I'll be doing some other work while studying. :) Feeling pretty good about it all. I toyed with the idea of doing Naturopathy but I feel Nursing is what I really want to do. I just hope I am right. :)