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Medical records (lack of)

2K views 27 replies 9 participants last post by  EuroTrash 
#1 ·
On my convocation for my medical to get my certificat d'aptitude it says I have to take with me my carnet de vaccination and all my medical documents. Do you think it will matter if I turn up empty handed? All I can offer is my recent AZ card and if they're looking for a history of every vaccination since I was born, they won't be impressed by one measly AstraZeneca jab.
I have had a couple of mammos in France but the pictures are in Normandy and I'm not so I can't take those, and I literally don't have anything else. I never needed to go to a doctor or hospital in France and I can't remember when last time I went in the UK was, I think probably about 25 years ago. (I'm not big on consulting doctors!) The most interesting thing I've ever had is a core biopsy, which my CAT tool translates as microbiopsie, would anyone disagree with that translation, in case they want to know about it?

Another matter I would welcome creative suggestions on is, I need to take a "sample". And I can't think what to put it in. As it happens I finished off a plastic bottle of orange juice today but they might be surprised if I present them with a litre bottle! but other than that I just don't have any suitable receptacles that I can think of. I travelled light and I'm being very minimalist with possessions.
 
#2 ·
Well for the second part, you just have to ask in a pharmacy for a sterile pot for a urine analysis and they usually provide them with no questions. If necessary say you have to have an ECBU (examen cytologique et batériologique des urines).

As for your medical records, you can only tell them that you had the usual vaccinations and that you have been in good health. Jot down any events with dates that you can remember and they should be happy with that.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Oops, well they're out of luck then because I don't have another jour de repos before the medical and there isn't a chemist close by that I can get to. If they wanted me to have a sterile container, they should have sent me one...

Edit - no a plan has formed. Hopefully I will go past a chemist on my way to the appointment. If I do I can ask for a container and fill it there and then, nice and fresh.
(Should maybe add that I'll be in my campervan, I'm not planning on squatting by the roadside)
 
#5 ·
I don't know of anyone who actually has a carnet of vaccinations. The one vaccination I got here (tetanus, I think it was) I got a vaccination card for - only for tetanus shots, not anything else and that has gone missing in and among all the junk in my office.

It used to be the "custom" here that the patient kept all their own records and hauled their folder or box with all of that with them to every doctor appointment. (My husband still has a folder, but he has pared it way down in the last several years.) I generally went in empty handed to the "work doctor" appointments - though here they give you a large paper cup to pee in and they do whatever test they do right there after you pass them the cup through the little portal in the bathroom wall. (The work doctor here sets up in a large camper.) It's basically a superficial exam, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
#9 ·
Well today I was in a positive mood so I decided I'd try and get this sorted, so I naughtily nipped off work a bit early and went to a pharmacy and after queuing for about 15 minutes my turn came and I asked for a flacon. Ooooo mais noooon, we stopped giving those out two and a half years ago! On being pressed, she said I could ask at the secretariat at the medical centre, that's where you get them now, and on being pressed a bit further she grudgingly told me how to find the medical centre. Not the most helpful lady I've ever met. So I went to the secretariat at the medical centre and discovered it had closed 10 minutes previously.

They've kept sending emails pestering me to fill in my medical info online, because apparently it's vitally important for me to co-operate with my doctor and develop a good relationship, and this is what my doctor wants me to do. But the link they send me doesn't work - it takes me to a page where it asks for my email address, I enter the address they have for me, and it tells me I don't have an account but gives me no clue how to set one up. I wasted ages one evening last week piddling about their website but nowhere that I could find does it invite you to set up an account. In my positive mood I decided to try and sort that today too, so I emailed them and said I would like to fill this info in but don't seem to have an account, how do I create one. They sent me another link, and a code to enter, and guess what, it doesn't work. So much for positive moods.

I don't know if I've changed while I was away, or if France has changed, or if I'm just seeing a different side of it, but things just aren't gelling.
 
#10 ·
Well today I was in a positive mood so I decided I'd try and get this sorted, so I naughtily nipped off work a bit early and went to a pharmacy and after queuing for about 15 minutes my turn came and I asked for a flacon. Ooooo mais noooon, we stopped giving those out two and a half years ago! On being pressed, she said I could ask at the secretariat at the medical centre, that's where you get them now, and on being pressed a bit further she grudgingly told me how to find the medical centre. Not the most helpful lady I've ever met. So I went to the secretariat at the medical centre and discovered it had closed 10 minutes previously.

They've kept sending emails pestering me to fill in my medical info online, because apparently it's vitally important for me to co-operate with my doctor and develop a good relationship, and this is what my doctor wants me to do. But the link they send me doesn't work - it takes me to a page where it asks for my email address, I enter the address they have for me, and it tells me I don't have an account but gives me no clue how to set one up. I wasted ages one evening last week piddling about their website but nowhere that I could find does it invite you to set up an account. In my positive mood I decided to try and sort that today too, so I emailed them and said I would like to fill this info in but don't seem to have an account, how do I create one. They sent me another link, and a code to enter, and guess what, it doesn't work. So much for positive moods.

I don't know if I've changed while I was away, or if France has changed, or if I'm just seeing a different side of it, but things just aren't gelling.
I personallyt would say that most of the online stuff in France no longer works, or doesn't work as it should, etc. Though believe me France is not the only country experiencing such issues. Too many techos working on the sites who actually have no idea of the user experience. 🤣😭
 
#13 ·
I can assure you it has changed a great deal in recent years, and not for the better - just ask your Mayor, your pharmacist, your GP .....

Usually things change for the better or remain stagnant, or perhaps there are a few backwards steps, but over the last 2-3 years it has been nothing short of horrendous.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Well I tried the Secretariat for a flacon but she said the médecin du travail should have sent one and if they hadn't, use anything. In the end I bought a little container from Intermarché for 2€ and did what was required there and then in Intermarché car park. And after all that the doctor didn't even ask for it. I was on my way out and I put my hand in my pocket to get my keys and there it was. So I bloomin' well went back in and waved it at her and said You asked for this She said for some profiles they need a sample and for others they don't, and for my profile they didn't. It's to check if you're a likely candidate for diabetes apparently. But she did the test anyway and told me I'm unlikely to get diabetes.

You have to answer lots of questions on a computer, about your job and about you and about your lifestyle, then you do a hearing test (also on the computer), then you get weighed and measured, then you have a long chat with the doctor and get your blood pressure taken and your eyesight tested. No use to me really but in some situations I can see it might be quite useful. They were all very pleasant and there are no flies on that doctor, she pinned me down as a bit overweight, deaf as a post, and prone to skin problems. But she seemed quite amused at what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Then we finished off by discussing Brexit.

So I have this really nice little plastic container with a green lid, only used once, cost 2€, any offers?
 
#20 ·
All this week I have been listening to my sister in the UK moaning about the workmen who have dumped materiel in their front garden but not turned up to do the work, the fact that their boiler is not working and the plumber is nowhere to be seen (gone off with the workmen?) and in the meantime the shower is not working and they are having to wash with flannels at the bathroom basin, and the wait for the BT technicians who have not turned up either after ordering them to stay in to wait for them - or else.

I have a hospital appointment next Monday and need a bon de transport for a taxi. The doctor's secretary for some reason doesn't seem to like sending them. Two weeks ago before a previous appointment I phoned one of the other secretaries who sent me the form by email five minutes after I asked her for it. If I don't receive the new form tomorrow, Thursday being a Bank Holiday, I'll phone the nice secretary again.

I don't know why it is becoming so hard to get even reasonable service any more. Do people get a buzz from being in a position of power, knowing that they are driving you mad? Or do they just not care at all?
 
#27 ·
I think that most of us appreciate your comments BiF precisely because your perspective is different from that of us expats. You have clearly spent a lot of time away from France which gives you a more critical viewpoint of the many issues that arise and although we aren't always going to agree on everything, it's good to confront our different points of view.

I hope this doesn't sound patronising. I am well aware that we are and always will be strangers in this your country of origin and although there are many aspects of life here drive us mad, none of us want to leave France. Airing our grievances here and sharing our experiences helps us put things into persective, as do your contributions.
 
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