hey guys welcome back to foreign reacts today we're going to be checking out a
really interesting video this one is titled culture shock going to the doctor in france
versus usa french health care system well it didn't say system but it's uh said french health
care so a lot of you guys have been requesting for me to do french reaction videos and i'm
trying my best to get as much done as possible so if you have any suggestions leave those in
the comment section down below and i'll try to get back to that as soon as possible i do want
to say um the person who is in this video uh i reached out to them already asking for permission
to do this reaction video unfortunately no responses yet but i'm doing the reaction
video in hopes that you know eventually they'll respond but um if you ever see this video and
you don't want it on youtube just hit me up in the email that is in the uh description and the video
is gone but either ways uh we're gonna check out your video and i really am excited to hear these
culture shocks so without further ado let's get right into it yeah i'm there but naked except
for my socks on an exam table after the doctor was like right next to me as i undressed and it just
wasn't what i expected if you find yourself sick in france in need of medical attention or just
curious about what it's like going to the doctor in france keep on watching to learn what to expect
at doctors appointments in france and how they might differ from what you're used to in the u.s
okay bonjour to remold i'm diane i'm an american who's lived in france since 2012
and here on this channel we talk about everyday french life and beyond and in addition i also
blog over at reinfrance.com it's a living abroad lifestyle blog and i'd love for you to check that
out if the written word is more your thing let's get right into today's video all about differences
you might encounter when going to the doctor in france and my reference point is always how things
are in the u.s and some american but my intention with this video is to give you some insight into
what things are like to help ease any surprises and just to let you know what to expect because
what always surprises me the most about going to a doctor in france or any foreign country it's
just kind of the uneasiness what catches me off guard and can add to the stress to the frustration
the awkwardness is just being prepared so to that end i'm going to try to prepare you with a few
little things that are different about going to the doctor in france so here's my quick disclaimer
of course what follows here in this video it's my personal experience and not every single doctor
at every single place in france is going to have things as i describe them uh in this video it's
it's the way things are done overall generally in my experience but there are always exceptions
all right and it's also not a comprehensive list or this video would be five hours long
so with that let's get into it with number one okay the price right in france a visit to your
general gp your general practitioner will write down currently 25 euros and that be a standardized
nationwide um and you pay that doctor directly in person at the end of your visit you don't get
billed later and you could pay sometimes a cash check or credit card but not all
offices are equipped to take cards so just make sure that you have another method of payment
if you have a french insurance card the kert vittel it's a green card you'll be able to
show that and then you'll be reimbursed about 70 through the seiku and that's france's social
security system uh and then also you'll have supplementary insurance in most cases that's
called a mutual and you'll be reimbursed even more now if you're a tourist in france and you need to
see a doctor that's fine just make an appointment and you'll pay that 25 euros just like a french
person except you won't be reimbursed unless maybe you have a travel insurance you know like you're
not living here paying into the system like a citizen or permanent resident would now keep
in mind specialists uh do charge more beyond the 25 euros that a gp would charge and if there are
no convolution they can charge even more but still the point i want to make is that costs are clearly
outlined ahead of time you know for me in the u.s it was always a guessing game trying to figure out
what the doctor's visit would would cost that was always the easy part then it was like uh is
the insurance gonna cover it uh do i just pay my co-pay at the end will i be billed how much
and even for blood work in france at a lab you can always ask what each test will cost up front
and they'll be able to tell you that next up is the waiting room so doctors waiting rooms
in france tend to be very simple with chairs lined up against the wall in a way that allows everyone
in the room to see who's coming in and out of the room and when you first get to this waiting room
always be sure to greet the other patients in the waiting room when you arrive so don't
just run in and try to take a chair in the corner without anyone seeing you it's really important in
france that you see people that you acknowledge them so even if you say make sure you say that
before you just sit down always always that's definitely well i from comparing to america
i would honestly say that in america you're likely going to greet somebody
if you enter into a facility or a building and you see somebody a group of people you're gonna
and you're going to that same exact spot i think you're gonna definitely grieve
that person i just think that's a normal common thing to do in america just to greet everybody
i think but um finland i'm in finland right now i don't think that is
anything that you would actually do unless you know that person at all you know people
already in the room politeness is huge and i made a whole video on why bonjour is a must
now when it's time for your appointment the doctor will personally come and get you out
of the waiting room they'll just call your name when it's your turn normal but something to
note is that in my experience gps uh pretty much work alone aside from a secretary especially in
in small practices or just when it's just them so you won't be greeted by a nurse or you know a
medical assistant who will first invite you in to check your vitals get your history before seeing
the doctor it's the doctor himself or herself that will normally come get you from the waiting room
so here's a funny story be aware that french gps don't generally wear white doctor's coats or
a suit or you know with a stethoscope around their neck they might just be in regular plain
clothes you know and so don't do what i did at my first medical visit in france and be like
hi wait are you the doctor you know kind of unsure of who this casual man was in front of me calling
my name with um you know a polo shirt unbuttoned in his chest hair and a little cross necklace
you know and just jeans uh it was different for me so i didn't realize that the doctor
was down and um yeah i learned my lesson now i know but yeah if someone comes and calls your name
uh whatever you think a doctor should or shouldn't look like just act accordingly and assume this
person is the doctor makes sense and just a quick note before we move on to number three in my last
video about the pros and cons of living in france as a foreigner i mentioned a french brand that i
loved while i was talking about making a list it's rhodia they make amazing notebooks and i
actually realized i have an extra one on my shelf and i would love to give it away to you so if
you'd like to win a rhodia notebook i'll put the picture up here just stick around to the end and
i'll give you just some quick notes on how to uh how to enter that giveaway so stick around and i
also have a things i love segment my new segment where i tell you about well something that i love
at the end but uh yeah we're going to continue right on with number three here my difference
this is a big one and it's no nurse is usually present during exams and this is
one that majorly caught me off guard the first time i saw a gynecologist in france it was just
the doctor and me alone in an exam room which was different than what i
was used to and it it just made me a little uneasy because if anything strange happened
it would be my word against the doctors and that wasn't something that i was used to i think
you know i got really i think professionalism is a real thing when it comes to europe uh personally
for me yes i'm still gonna have my doubts and my thoughts because trust no one is just the
motto uh yeah but i do think professionalism is a real thing in europe and i think it's lit too too
um you know it's really i that's what i think i've not really had that experience but that's what i
probably think you know it's really uncommon to have like a doctor being unprofessional doing
things they're not supposed to do comfortable in the u.s knowing there was always a third
party in the room for more sensitive exams so maybe a nurse or a medical assistant
at the gynecologist's office and that's for the doctor's protection and also the patients
and i find that in the us uh an assistant of some sort a third party is often present for doctors
who are the opposite sex of the patients but in france that's really not the case and this always
put me at ease in the u.s just knowing there was someone else there for the the protection
of all involved you know in france i've never encountered a third party present um and i
wouldn't say it never happens here again it's just my experience but it's certainly not common in
france so be aware that it's most likely gonna be you and the doctor all right next up is nudity so
sticking with the gynecologist for a moment and kind of adding to my unease is this next point
um let's just talk about how the exams conducted so i was majorly surprised when it was time for my
you know pelvic exam and the doctor didn't leave the room for me to undress i mean they weren't
they weren't gawking at me or anything they were just doing paperwork at their desk but you know
she didn't give me a gown either a paper gown of any kind or a um over my pelvic area to kind
of drape over yourself you know during the exam in the u.s i was always given some type of gown
or like a draping it gets cold right so yeah i'm there butt naked except for my socks on an exam
table after the doctor was like right next to me as i undressed and it just wasn't what i expected
and it made an awkward exam even less pleasant because i didn't know and medical nudity in france
is a thing that i find very different i think let me tell you from my standpoint from my you know
loving the difference finding out people are not from here or whatever just the fact that you hear
somebody speaking differently or looks differently sounds differently acts differently i think it's
really important to enlighten that person it doesn't matter if you come off as annoying i think
it's really important to enlighten that person about how things are done in your place compared
to what they are probably used to because to assume they know is a tough one because like she
said it made it really uncomfortable i'm telling you i i don't know if there are any women in this
world who would love to go to a gynecologist right and just imagine not knowing or knowing
what to expect when you're at the gynecologist that that's tough just be aware and in addition
to the gynecologist when i first arrived in france um most of us are required to get a chest x-ray
and during that appointment you know i was kind of like paraded through the back area of the
imaging center completely topless you know like this um no gown or anything while they moved me
from you know the intake room to the x-ray area and there were you know doctors of both sexes
um in that back area you know they didn't even care you know that i was there i was just another
person but it was different than what i was used to and i felt exposed so just something to know so
you know what to expect and now you know i bring a sweater some type of shawl that doesn't change the
exam doesn't hinder what the doctor's doing and you know it's just something that makes me feel
more comfortable to put around my shoulders and you could easily do this if you're easily cold or
it would be off-putting to you to be completely nude and uncovered and i want to be clear here
that nudity in general it's not a problem so please don't misunderstand what i'm saying
or that what they do in france is wrong that's not what i'm saying at all when it comes to
nudity like that i'm not embarrassed by my own nudity or anyone else's so it's not that and of
course doctors don't you know doctors need to see you without clothes to properly examine you
in these situations but my issues are the following one as i've said several times i just
didn't know what to expect i wasn't expecting to you know strip down completely without a
gown in the presence of the doctor to not be covered so it just kind of caught me off guard
and two i didn't realize it would be just me and the doctor no nurse so that's something to
to take into consideration it can just again add another level of awkwardness
and then the last part i think maybe this is what makes it so awkward the doctor's in a position
of power and control they're the one examining you and the nudity i feel like it creates even
a greater power differential and it can be really awkward when you're there butt naked with no sense
of you know modesty granted um and i get i get it i totally understand her point like i'm not
even i'm not even trying to hold it bro i totally get her point i totally get her point i feel even
more vulnerable so that's it the nudity is not the issue it's just i didn't know what to expect and
it caught me off guard caught me by surprise okay next is sometimes you'll pick up your own vaccine
or other prescription for a medical appointment yourself it's not provided for you once you get to
the medical center so my advice here is to always read everything on your prescription because it
might not be what you expect and just to give you an example i looked briefly at a prescription
for blood work from my ophthalmologist when seeing a new eye doctor and getting a full exam
and he just wanted some some recent blood work so i went and got the blood work no big deal
uh brought that with me to my next exam and then it was time to get those eye drops in your eyes
where they dilate your your pupils and i looked behind your eye and he was like okay and where
are your drops and i said i don't know what drops and he said oh you know on your prescription it
was written get bring the drops blah blah blah oh my gosh i'm so sorry i totally overlooked the part
underneath that required me to go to the pharmacy ahead of time to get the special drops for myself
before that next appointment and that's because in the u.s whenever i would go to the ophthalmologist
they would just have the drops on hand it wasn't my responsibility to pick them up so i didn't even
i didn't even think to look at the prescription beyond the blood work and look at the
two lines underneath it was just a simple thing i overlooked and i've learned my lesson
all right next up is urgent care centers and in the usa it's quite common to see for-profit
franchises usually privately owned in strip malls or other shopping centers i'll put one
up on the screen here and they're very very common in the u.s they usually have convenient
hours they have emergency medicine physician staff and they're perfect for when you need
to see a doctor for something urgent but not an emergency you know or if you're in an area
uh far away from home and your gp isn't there but it's not a full-blown emergency
you know they have x-ray machines and that sort of thing baby stuff in france they don't have urgent
care centers like this to clarify yes friends has emergency rooms you can get care for urgent
situations and there are doctors who can see you you know in the emergency room or trauma center
you have an accident you go to one of those you will be seen absolutely but that's not what
i'm talking about i'm talking about the really common urgent care centers the walk-in centers
that you could find in so many areas of the usa cities and suburbs that provide that ambulatory
care outside of a traditional hospital setting right now for the things i love segment it's my
new segment where i share quite simply something i love things i love no i'm gonna cap that out
but her video was really interesting it was very um enlightening um you know what to expect when
you go to french healthcare center it was really important to actually learn these things because
you know like just move into france like i said this before like i still you know hate the fact
that there is not a lot of information regarding finland on the internet like there's just not
enough like when you search for finland and people who have moved here they don't put the important
things out there that you should do and that's the reason why i'm going to make sure that i do
that on the other channel that i have because it's important to enlighten these folks and let
these folks know what to expect when they come to a particular country because it's really important
because like she did here was really really really good because i i can promise you if i went to a
doctor i would not be expecting the nudity and them just being comfortably just looking
at me you know you know like it's not something normal like you're expecting a little gun lou
like she said you know what i'm trying to say so i definitely understand her pov and i um you
know i'm happy to watch this video but uh that's gonna be it guys like i said if you guys want to
recommend your french videos for me to check out these are in the comment section down below i'll
definitely get back to those as soon as possible but either ways guys i'm out of here peace