Chez le médecin ou à l’hôpital ?

Source : pilieratcat.qc.ca

One winter morning, I woke up with a very bad cold and a severe headache. Luckily, when I called my doctor's secretary, she was able to give me an appointment by fixing me inbetween two people that afternoon. 

Normally, getting an appointment with my doctor takes between two to three days. For emegencies, one get a place same day. When the doctor is on vacation, and doesn't have a replacement, I have to contact another doctor. Often, my husband's, because we don't use same doctor. I use the same docteur with my mother-in-law as she insisted that I would be better off with a female doctor.

Bref, I couldn't go for my training course that day so I sent a text to my friend Fabrice, with whom I ride to school with. I told him I wouldn't be able to go to class because I had to go to the hospital on emergency and I needed him to pass the message to our trainers. 

Little did I know that the message had been misunderstood, and had sent everyone into panic. They all thought that something tragic had happened to me. 

Source : fleuruseditions.com

When a French man hears someone is "à l'hopital", he is immediately going to think of une situation dramatique such as a horrible car accident where the victim's leg will be amputated, an emergency surgery, a heart attack, a cancer diagnosis etc.

In France, when one is ill, he goes to see a doctor " aller chez le médecin" or "aller chez le docteur". And you go to see a doctor when you have a cold, a fever, for a general medical check-up, etc,. 

The doctor, who is called médecin généraliste, works from his office called cabinet. He works alone or with other doctors, each one has his own office and his own patients. They don't have nurses, all they have is a medical secretary who takes calls, fixes appointments amongst other thinngs.

When a patient goes to see a doctor and something serious is detected, the doctor calls the ambulance who takes him/her to the hospital. The doctor cannot admit a patient as they do not have hospital beds or rooms. If the patient is too sick to move, his doctor can visit him at home and if he doesn't do home calls or is to busy to, he has call a doctor who makes home calls. 

One can call the police to get numbers of duty doctors (médecin de garde) and chemists (pharmacie de garde) that open on Sundays in one's area, (chemists don't open on Sundays in France).

Source : blog.astrapi.com

If someone finds himself/herself in a serious, life-threatening emergency, he/she must go to the "accident and emergency unit" (les urgences) of the nearest hospital without waiting for an appointment with his doctor. If an ambulance is needed, he/she has to dial 112 appel d'urgence européenne (this is like our 112 abi na 199, sha like America's 911). 

It's free of charge from any fixed or mobile phone. He/she can also call les pompiers on 118 or S.A.M.U. on 15.  In France, les sapeurs-pompiers, the fire brigade, also plays the role of ambulances by rushing victims to the hospital.  

Chez le médecin / à l’hôpital

Ex :

J'ai rendez-vous chez le médecin aujourd’hui

I have a medical appointment with the doctor today.

He was in hospital following a heart attack.

Il était à l'hôpital suite à une crise cardiaque.

Hospital terms :

• Doctor - Medecin

• Hospital doctor - Médecin hospitalier

• Hospital nurse - Infirmier hospitalier/Infirmière hospitalière

• General hospital - Centre hospitalier

• Government hospital - Hôpital général

• Children's hospital - Hôpital pour enfants 

• Maternity hospital  - Maternité 

• Private general hospital -Polyclinique

• Private hospital - Clinique

• Teaching hospital - Centre hospitalier universitaire

• Surgical hospital - Hôpital de chirurgie 

• Psychiatric hospital - Hôpital psychiatrique 

• Army hospital - Hôpital militaire