It's sad but true the traditional doctor, in most cases, does not help people get well.

In the first place most doctors don't spend enough time with you to find out exactly
what ails you.

Then to make matters worse they usually write a prescription for your ailment because that's is all they know what to do. Because most traditional doctors are not educated well enough in medical school about nutrition they only know how to prescribe a drug to cure your illness.

Getting hooked on prescription drugs is not a smart thing to do. In fact it is more destructive than it is beneficial. All drugs, as you should know, have a variety of side effects that can make you more miserable than before you took them.

Why is the world would you want to subject your body to all those adverse conditions? You are also suppressing the ability of your immune system to function properly too.

It's amazing to me to hear of all the stories of people gulping down multiple amounts of prescription drugs everyday. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that drug overdoses killed 33,000 in 2005, second only to car accidents in the category of accidental deaths. In 1999 the number was 20,000 and in 1990, 10,000 died. I wonder what the figure is today. I'm sure it must be bigger.

Consider that 46% of Americans take at least one prescription pill daily. Are these drugs really solving all your problems? Big Pharma spends billions to promote their products on TV, the radio, in print advertising and even puts tremendous on doctors to promote their drugs. Do you know that America is only one of two countries in the world that allows prescription drug ads? The only other country is New Zealand.

What is so disturbing for me is that Big Pharma has a huge grip on the U.S. Congress. Just take a good look at what is happening. Recent Presidential cabinets and the FDA have been stacked with pharmaceutical executives.

The members of Congress who are really concerned about the Nations health get defeated every time there is legislature presented to protect all nutritional products.

You want to hear a real sad story? Senator Edward Kennedy is a prime supporter in Congress who would like to have legislation destroy our ability to buy nutritional products. Now what is a real mystery to me is why would he want to do that when he has a cancerous brain tumor that could well be caused by him taking statin drugs for his high cholesterol problem and also high blood pressure medicine for that condition too.

Blood pressure medication typically reduces the flow of nutrition and oxygen to your brain, resulting in acid pH and an environment readily suitable for cancer growth.

Now as for as statins are concerned here's even more shocking news to know. Statins cause cancer for a variety of reasons. A fact that is covered up by the 20 billion dollars a year statin industry with the help of Senators on both sides of the political aisle, like Kennedy, who actively supports the Big Pharma agenda.

In addition to statins causing cancer here is some other things to be concerned about many other drugs. Statins is just one of many drugs that interfere with your normal immune function in multiple ways. Statins even interfere with core survival systems that are "branches" in the normal production of LDL cholesterol (that's the good cholesterol). In addition important anti-cancer nutrients such as vitamin D and coenzyme Q10 are also reduced by stations.

The disadvantages of taking statin drugs are unbelievably destructive. Even brain cells are weakened by statins. The longer a person stays on these drugs the worse the problem becomes.

All this information just presented is only about statin drugs and high blood pressure medication. This is just a drop in the bucket of the many other prescription drugs that are extremely dangerous to swallow.

It would take page after page of data to list all the prescription drugs that are harmful for you to get hooked on. What is really disturbing is that traditional doctors still prescribe these poisons everyday to their patients.

I can't emphasize it enough folks. Get smart about how to take charge of your health before you destroy it completely.

A water purification process may include a number of different steps. To explain water purification in specific localities, it is necessary to contact your treatment facility or visit their website, if they have one. Some plants are very large and some stations only service a few homes. What follows are the steps used by my local facility.

Ion exchange is the first step in the complex water purification process. Ion exchange can accomplish several things. The facility uses it to remove various metal ions. It is sometimes referred to as "softening". In home systems it is used to balance mineral content, pH levels and remove traces of lead that can seep in through the pipes.

When this step in the water purification process is complete, if effective, there will be no heavy metals like lead, iron, mercury or cadmium. All of which can cause health problems.

Step two is Granular Activated Carbon. As, we are attempting to explain water purification, it is important to note that a water purification process may be used in the home or in a facility or both. Carbon blocks are used in both.

At the facility, there is an oversized granular activated carbon bed. In home units and at facilities where they are used carbon removes chlorine, pesticides, herbicides, and other organic contaminants. THM's or trihalomethanes, which are produced during chlorination, will also be removed by carbon.

Sediment filtration is the third step in our local water purification process. It is a simple paper sediment filter which traps larger particles like sand, dirt or grit. They need to be removed early in the process, to prevent clogging later on.

Step four in the water purification process is reverse osmosis. This is a step that has been adapted for home use, but it is only necessary when the source is particularly contaminated. Depending on the size of the pores in the membrane, it can remove a variety of contaminants, but only those that are heavier or larger than the water's molecules.

Step five is called the five micron carbon block filter. It is designed to capture small particles, those that pass through the reverse osmosis membrane.

In the next step of our local water purification process ultra violet lights are used for disinfection. It is easier to explain water purification of this type, because the design is simple. It consists of a chamber with large ultra violet light.

UV disinfection is followed by a one micro sediment filter. Oxygenation is used to further disinfect and purify. Then the resulting product is stored for use by humans.

In our area, chlorine is again added to prevent algae and bacteria growth in the pipes. So, even though our local water purification process is a good one, we still need carbon filtration in our homes to remove chlorine and THMs.

This was a very brief attempt to explain water purification. There are many other stages that can be included and in some areas, all of the ones mentioned here are not used. The best advice is to have a good water purification process for your home, because contamination can happen in an instant.

One of the most important aspects of running a cash pay medical practice is choosing a name for your office. While the traditional medical marketing strategy for physicians is simply to put their name on an exterior sign, and perhaps to use a medical advertising agency to help them reach out to their community, there is a more effective healthcare marketing approach.

* Choose a name that advertises your preference for cash pay patients. You do not want to immediately turn any potential patients off; but on the other hand you want your community to know your payment requirements from the very beginning. Although you may not want to put "cash-pay only" in your actual name, you may want to add some soft reminders to this fact in your healthcare marketing strategy. Perhaps a healthcare consulting firm could give you some hints on how to incorporate your payment requirements into your subtitle. For example, your medical practice name followed by "a limited insurance provider." Most healthcare marketing firms can help you create a name that gently lets potential patients know about your payment requirements.

* Choose a name that stands out from the crowd. Healthcare advertising has long been driven by the name of the physician-and rightly so. But how do you make your practice stand out for potential patients who may just be skimming through the telephone book or other physician marketing publications? The answer is to put something unique in your cash pay medical practice name-or at least in the subtitle. An indication about how easy it is to obtain medical service with your practice is always a good option. Fast in-fast out, limited paperwork. In today's hectic world, the easier you can make visiting your practice, the better. Again, a healthcare marketing firm can help you decide how to incorporate fast service into your practice's name.

* Choose a name that indicates your area of medical expertise. In order to make it as easy as possible for patients to know your specialized area of medicine, your expertise should be clearly stated in your name. All medical marketing, including latino medical practice marketing, is targeted towards a specific patient audience, and this is done to ensure that the patients you serve know exactly what they can expect in your cash pay medical practice. While it is perhaps inappropriate to put your specialty directly in your name, a subtitle that states your field is perfect. You want your healthcare advertising to be as clear as possible and to reach as many potential patients as possible.

The statement 'Trust me I'm a doctor' should be taken and thrown out through the window. Consider it like this, to get the picture on how the medical / pharmaceutical establishment have caused so much ill health and death over the years. For example, as reported by Gary Null et al, in 1 year the establishment were responsible for nearly 784,000 deaths in the USA through medical intervention. The breakdown off this figure includes adverse drug reactions, medical error, bedsores, infection, malnutrition, outpatients, unnecessary procedures and surgery.
We can see that if the above figure for the total number of iatrogenic deaths (deaths through medical intervention) could be projected over a 10-year period, this would come to just over 7.8 million. -That's more than the number of war casualties in the history of America!

Dr Lucian L. Leape made the earliest known iatrogenic study in 1994, published in the journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Through his studies over various hospital over the United States he could have chosen the average fertility rate, which was about 20%, but instead chose to use a lower figure of 4% (was he playing it diplomatically safe when giving this account to his superiors???). If he had chosen the average figure of 20%, that would have totaled to 1,189,576 iatrogenic deaths for a year instead. -This is the equivalent to reading the headline in our imaginary newspaper: 'OVER 10 FULL 747 AIRPLANES CRASH KILLING ALL ITS PASSENGERS'
Psychiatry, indeed, the medical branch of psychology, is no different. This has more than its fair share of fraud, propagated by the usual suspects with their black money and cabalistic cover-ups: Pharmaceutical company people, the FDA, easily corrupted high-ranking politicians, bad science and a paid off press.

Did you know that psychiatrists are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than the average population? Similarly, Alcoholics Anonymous in the United States have reported a high number of psychiatrists in their groups. So much for psychiatrists being the models of mental health...
They use a manual called the DSM (diagnostic and statistical manual) for diagnosing individuals and identifying disorders. The disorders have been questioned as to whether or not they exist, since they are established by a committee of votes, rather than by sound science. The DSM catalog has hugely increased over recent years, beyond what some might say logic. However, it must be remembered that more diagnosed individual's means more drugs prescribed and therefore more money for big pharma.

-This sounds incredible, but when you look at it in detail, for example, it may be easy to see right through the ruse. Especially when the DSM decides by vote to include what could be called questionable disorders like 'Lottery Stress Disorder' and 'Shaking Leg Syndrome' Does it sound like I'm making these things up? Remember the treatments just happen to rake in drugs profits, if you get my drift...

For the newly self employed, health insurance is a major consideration. If you do not prepare for those unexpected health disasters, you could be in for a major financial setback or worse. Whether you live in California or Georgia, obtaining the right coverage is critical in the early stages of your self-employment.

When you start your own small business or become a solo professional, you need to think about replacing the function of your former human resources department at your previous employer. It is a real challenge to play so many different roles but it is a reality in the business world that you must accept.

What should you look for in self employed medical insurance? I would advise seeking out a general coverage plan that includes most if not all of your former benefits. You need to think about the deductible you think is affordable for you and your family. You also need to think about how much you want to pay for emergency room services and prescription drugs.

Of course, no one can plan for absolutely everything so you need to plan as well as you can, setting your target for the most economical and comprehensive health insurance plan you can find. There are so many websites out there today that make this process simple and straightforward for you.

What is the best free health insurance for self employed individuals? That is a great question! I am positive that free health insurance does not exist, but I suppose it does not hurt to search online for it. You never know. Probably the best route is to search government or local websites for information about that type of coverage.

With so many other self employed benefits, try not to let the health insurance obstacle slow you down. Yes, searching for an affordable premium, completing paperwork, and talking to customer service operators is going to take time away from your busy schedule, but it needs to be done and as soon as possible.

You might also consider contacting local business startup organizations for help with the process just to be sure you've covered all your bases. Since self employed insurance is very different from state-to-state, this is a good idea. Laws, premiums, and systems may be in stark contrast between Indiana, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, etc. You never know what exceptions might exist in each state (or what extra benefits or special programs might be available).

Many of us, after a long days work, simply want to relax and put up our feet. Our days at work can be stressful and full of tiring hours. There is nothing like coming home at the end of a busy day and just doing nothing. The hours we put in at work seem to go on endlessly; for when we come home, it is difficult to not think about work. We come home and think about what needs to get done the next day, or about what we did get done, but need to go back and fix. For a lot of us this solely involves doing, or re-doing in some cases, paperwork or a meeting that we have to attend.

Doctors, however, have an entirely different burden. Imagine, if you will, treating a young ten-year-old girl for cancer or caring for someone's elderly grandfather. Doctors, on a daily basis, deal with the living and dying of their patients. To be a doctor means that you are thinking about your patients for what must feel like twenty-four hours a day. Each doctor walks around in their landau medical scrubs and tries to find the best remedy possible for his patients. Their number one concern is the well-being of each and every individual that they treat.

If a particular medical doctor is a surgeon, they are most likely contemplating their next surgery. They are most likely reading through their patients' medical charts to make sure that everything is looking great before the time for surgery is at hand. An OB-GYN on the other hand, is most likely wearing his cheap medical scrubs and monitoring his patient at hourly intervals to make sure the delivery is progressing normally. There are many things that can weigh heavily on a doctor's mind around the clock.

With another human being's life in their hands, doctors have one of the most stressful jobs around. They are continuously looking out for us; even if it means when they have the day off. Just like the rest of us, they are probably finding themselves looking to the next day they are back at work at what lies ahead of them. Their minds are constantly racing back to the office, just as ours are.

So the next time that you see a doctor without the cherokee workwear scrubs that he normally wears for his day job, just remember that he is probably thinking about the next step he will be taking to treat a patient. Or maybe he will be thinking about a particularly special life that he happened to save that day. Doctor's may carry the burden of saving the lives of complete strangers, but they also have the satisfaction and reward they get from doing their very best to make someone else's life even better and longer.

Medical and healthcare insurance companies originally came into being as a way of financing increasingly more expensive healthcare options. However insurance companies be they medical insurance, health insurance, car insurance, home insurance or any other insurance are in the business to make money. They make money by calculating the income they can charge and the costs they will incur by offering the service. If the income is higher than the cost then they are happy to extend coverage and if the income is significantly higher than the cost they spend money marketing to you so as to make sure you buy the service. Truthfully the more profit for them the less you need them.

So what kind of people are medical and healthcare insurance companies looking for? The more of the following items that apply to you the more they want YOU.

1. You know that time tested home remedies such as lemon and honey have been shown to be just as effective at curing a bad cold as everything sold at the local pharmacy
2. You believe in preventive care which isn't covered instead of reactive care which is.
3. You don't watch a lot of TV so you haven't been convinced by the major pharmaceutical companies that the solution to your healthcare problems comes in the form of a pill.
4. You are not a hypochondriac.
5. You are 18-35 and healthy.
6. You exercise regularly.
7. You are not overweight.
8. You don't smoke.
9. You have a "living will" that prohibits invasive procedures, aggressive treatment and resuscitation as you near death.
10. You haven't figured out how profitable a customer you are

If you believe that medicine and healthcare are products to be bought and sold, then the existence of companies such as insurance companies that try to select who buys and sells this product is logical. However if you believe that like education, medicine and healthcare are universal rights to be obtained based on need and not affordability then the mere existence of medical insurance companies is a moral outrage.

To see what a society that believes medicine and healthcare are products to be bought and sold looks like you can travel to pretty much any third world country and look around. Those who buy medical care can afford to, those that cannot afford to buy it don't!

Hematology transcription is one of the rapidly growing essential services in healthcare and refers to a specialized medical transcription service related to a branch of medicine. What is hematology? It is the branch of internal medicine that deals with the study of blood, the organs involved in blood production, and blood disorders. It covers the biochemical and physiological aspects of blood. Hematology involves knowledge of the blood cells and analyzing the various changes that can occur in diseased cells. The word has its origin from two Greek words, namely haima and logos meaning blood and study respectively.

Hematology includes diagnosis and treatment of blood related diseases along with the study. For diagnosis, certain tests are performed with the blood. Some of the common tests are full blood counts, blood films, bone marrow biopsies, and Coombs test. Full blood count is commonly prescribed by doctors as part of the medical examination. This test is done to check whether there is any increase or decrease in the number of blood cells from the normal level.

In hematology, the treatment varies depending upon the type of the disease the patient has. Some diseases need prolonged treatments and take a long time to recover. Some others need only few days to recover. Diet advice and medications are included in the treatments. For patients with anemia, blood transfusion is done as part of the treatment. Chemotherapy, radio therapy, and bone marrow transplantations are included in the treatment methods for leukemia.

The doctors who are specialized in working with patients of hematological problems are called hematologists. These doctors mainly treat patients with blood related diseases, and later dictate the entire incident onto digital recorders which are later sent to professional hematology transcriptionists who specialize in transcription of audio dictations into typed transcripts.

A few months back, my brother and I had been to a hospital for some minor ailment and after consultation we were given a prescription by the doctor for necessary medication. In spite of the nature of the ailment, the bill amount was so huge and someone from a normal middle class would not be able to afford it. I really felt the pinch - my purse being significantly lighter when I left the hospital. A few days later, one of my friends shared a similar experience, with me, which he had during one of his hospital visits. We discussed the skyrocketing medical and consultation charges and agreed that there are no chances of escaping the drug prices in the near future. We discussed of a means of surviving this rise in charges for drugs as well as consultation and started doing some research on health insurance.

This is when we stumbled upon a great testimonial for Ameriplan, which is all about the medical discount plans. The medical discount plans offered by Ameriplan Corporation, the nation's premier Discount Medical Plan Organization are said to reduce the expenses by 80%. These medical discount plans are also said to provide multiple benefits ranging from dental care, prescription, vision care, chiropractic care and medical care.

We at once knew that we have found exactly what we were looking for and wasted no time in grabbing the medical discount plan with both hands! When we signed up, we also came to know that Ameriplan provides business opportunity to anyone interested - either through commissions on signing up other members for discount plans or by becoming IBOs (Independent Business Owner) for the program and setting up a sales group for the program.

If you are one of those for whom your family's health is of primary importance and if mounting medical expenses have been disturbing you, Ameriplan may be the answer to all your concerns. To know more about the medical discount plans one of the useful websites would be

health-dental-discount-plans.com.

The American health care system is one of the most talked about issues surrounding the upcoming 2008 presidential elections. Both Democratic and Republican candidates have outlined new health care plans that may have a drastic impact on how many voters choose to cast their ballots.

The current economic recession has lead to financial trouble for many American families. With the cost of health care services and pharmaceuticals on the rise, this means some people are not able to afford the health care they need. Thousands of Americans, including children, are currently without any type of health care coverage.

The presidential candidates have each outlined plans for health care reform that should address this issue. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are lobbying for a more universal health care system supported by the government. Republican candidate John McCain supports the privatization of the American Health Care System.

Research estimates 80 percent of healthcare spending is used by the sickest 20 percent of patients. This uneven distribution of funds can be adjusted if patients are given proper care at the start of their treatment to prevent the worsening of their conditions and the need for readmission to care facilities.

Some companies are already helping to alleviate some of the burden of health care costs from Americans, regardless of the election outcome. Health care services provider, McKesson has recently introduced new programs intended to combat unnecessary health spending through prevention and thorough care.

Community Care Advantage helps hospitals and other provider-based organizations provide high-quality care to indigent, chronically ill and newly discharged patients in a timely manner. This offering comprises three solutions that help to address preventable readmissions that cost Medicare $12 billion each year.

Community Health Services, Community Health Technologies and Consumer Convenience Solutions work together to ensure all patients have access to the high-quality care they need following initial treatment. Through these programs McKesson facilitates the monitoring of recently released patients and provides them and their caregivers with access to information about their condition and treatments, improving patient safety. Community Care Advantage empowers both patients and providers to follow treatment plans for proper condition management.

Patients are being effectively cared for and health care costs are being reduced thanks to community care programs. While health care reform may be getting considerable attention to its political relevance, these solutions are already beginning to improve the heath care situation.

Everyone needs a general practitioner or primary care physician, and most have trouble finding the one that is right for them. I want to blow open the mistakes people make and help you figure out how to get it done. Many patients I speak to "make do" with their primary care doctor, and I think that is the biggest mistake people can make when looking after themselves.

Why is the "right" general practitioner important

Your body will travel through life with you and you will be together right at the end.

It will break down and you will get ill multiple times. How well you keep it maintained is vital. If you have a poorly maintained body, you will either have a shorter life, or a more uncomfortable one. Maintenance is all about having a good relationship with a primary care doctor. It won't make you never get sick, but you will be more likely to recover faster, be more productive and be more able to enjoy your life.

It sounds a bit washy, so here is a real life example.

A friend of mine, who we will call Sarah, got ill with pneumonia. She had a great general practitioner who she saw promptly. Sarah was treated well and continued to get better. She trusted her doctor, and didn't want to let him down, so she went for her follow-up appointment, even though she was feeling much better. The general practitioner used that appointment to review the illness and figured out that the type of pneumonia was a bit odd for someone of Sarah's age and general health. So he did some more tests, which showed up a very early uncommon blood cancer. That was able to be treated before causing any other symptoms (except this unusual infection). So Sarah is not cured, but is still happy and functions well, many years longer than she was expected to.

Having the right doctor means:

* You will be more likely to go to the doctor when you are feeling a bit under the weather.
* Your doctor will be able to pick up on earlier symptoms, and diagnose things faster.
* Faster diagnosis means faster recovery. Faster return to work. All those good things.
* You will be more likely to attend for results and follow-up, which is important to look after your long term health.
* When you visit at other times, your doctor will be able to look at all of your health, not just the bit that hurts the most.
* Your doctor will be better at referring you to specialist care (if appropriate) as they will know you better, and be able to pick when you are particularly sick, and what specialist would best suit your personality.
* You will be more confident in the decisions they make.
* You will be more confident in asking questions, and know more abut what is going on, and therefore be more in control.
* You will become more involved in making your own health decisions.
* You will get better preventative care (of diabetes or hypertension, obesity or heart disease for example) because you will attend over a longer period of time.
* Attending more regularly means a better relationship - you will both get along better. More pleasant way to spend the day.

All of this things will make you a better maintained person. You and your body-mechanic need to have a close relationship, and there needs to be trust for one another. Things won't get missed, and if you are sick, it will be a much less traumatic experience.

Empty your cupboards; full of pages containing all your health information and files where you have stored all your health records. In long future, no more files will be used to store health records. In this computer age it will be shared electronically so no more files no more data no more pages- all in one. Store all your health information in an electronic health diary which is a secure as well as private means of recording all your health record. This will serve as a storehouse where all your health information is shared electronically to support health care decisions by caregivers. An Electronic Health Record (EHR) provides us with a secure and lifetime record of our health history. You can make this record available electronically to authorized health care providers and individual anywhere, anytime, in support of high-quality care. This helped a lot to health caregivers also to provide you the better service in future. This will bring a new era in the history of health service, a patient friendly system will exist.

All government hospitals, pharmacies, health institutions and other healthcare groups will share a private network that will aid in EHR development. A free software should be used to enable the doctors, pharmacies and labs to securely share and exchange data across the Internet world. A centralized electronic authorized registry system will help us to share our health data with health service providers. Another electronic data exchange should exist between different health information systems covering areas such as admission, discharge, transfer information, order entry and results reporting, scheduling and other referrals. You can keep a good track of your health by taking small steps and thereby can minimize your health risks.

This health system must be capable of supporting many different patient and healthcare provider's relationships. A long term relationship will establish in this way. Your family doctor will get a better understanding of your health history. Not only this if you have to visit your nearby or any hospital for undergoing a specific treatment every year or month, then a track your health history will get stored in the electronic patient record that every hospitals are using nowadays. You can also maintain your health records longitudinally that is typically in a form of a paper and this will contain information provided by the doctor or other external health sources such as laboratory, specialists, hospitals etc. An alert or reminder can also be set as for example in hospitals patient alert are created regarding patient's allergies, immunizations, family history, current medications, any specific disease like diabetes etc. So don't waste your time more on keeping records in files and then maintaining those files just change your habits and start regulating all your health record in an electronic health diary.

According to the CDC, almost 44 million Americans do not have health insurance. That''s 44 million people who have to pay out of pocket for their health care. However, basic health care is becoming more affordable because of walk-in clinics.

Wanted: Health Insurance

44 million Americans lack health insurance. Unfortunately, all of those Americans need health insurance. They not only need health insurance to get adequate treatment for illnesses and injuries, but also for disease prevention, screening and early diagnosis.

When people do not have health insurance they worry about what they will do if they get sick. That should be the least of their concerns. There biggest concern should be whether or not they have a disease that could be treated in its earliest stages. They should also be worried about preventing chronic diseases.

As adults, you should see a health care provider at once least every two years. You need to get physicals and have "get well" visits. Your weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar should be checked. Many expensive and debilitating chronic disease can be prevented with those simple tests.

Toilet paper, Deodorant and Health care

Do not let the lack of health insurance prevent you from seeing a health care provider. Walk-in clinics are a great option for basic health care. You can find these clinics in multiple locations. They are in certain Wal-Mart, Target, CVS stores and as stand-alone locations. At Wal-Mart clinics a typical Get Well visit cost less than 65 dollars. You can have your cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure checked. You can also have many common health ailments treated. Find a Wal-Mart Clinic near you.

Wal-Mart is not the only place that offers walk-in clinic. Do a Google search or look in your yellow pages for a location near you. Go see a health care provider because prevention is cheaper than treatment.

Doctors work around the clock, but it seems the ones that work after hours hide in the shadows a bit. Finding a doctor in public after 6pm needs more than a little luck. And if you manage to catch one, you have often dealt with a long wait and a higher than usual fee. When your medical problem is a roaring emergency, the answer is easy - simply call an ambulance or high-tail to the emergency department (where a little inside information will help shorten your wait). But when your problem is simpler, accessing a doctor seems a lot more complicated.

You can imagine the situation.
It's 7pm and you are just making dinner when you slice your hand with a knife. "Ow! Swear word! Ow!" you exclaim, as you compress the cut with a clean cotton dishtowel (rendered relatively sterile by the iron). The cut is not huge, and you are pretty sure it is not too deep, but it won't stop bleeding and you think you might need stitches. You are faced with the major modern medical dilemma - how do you find a doctor in the evening outside your local emergency department?

This situation can be stressful and it is often combined with other considerations. Maybe you have to look after your kids. Maybe you have an early start in the morning and can't be up after midnight just to get your hand checked. There are a number of ways to make it easier, and less stressful.

Get to know a doctor personally

This is one of the best ways to get to see a doctor when you need them - rely on familial obligation. Be careful with this tactic, though, as it can backfire. If the doctor is a member of your family, you will have to respect them a little bit, as you would if they were a "real" doc. If they are a friend, you really only can do this once or twice before they stop answering your calls. So pick your health emergency with care.

Finally, make sure the doctor you choose to befriend is appropriately qualified. When I was deciding what specialty to choose, my Dad strongly argued against paediatrics, purely because he could see that he would never get his "money's worth." For the record, he favored general practice, surgery or psychiatry.

Get to know Doctor's staff personally

Most doctors are pretty malleable and are particularly at the mercy of their staff. As in all industries, good staff are hard to find, and you want to do favors for them, if you can. If you can marry a medical receptionist, or carpool with a practice nurse, you will have a reasonable chance to manipulate an after hours appointment in an emergency.

For this to work, you really need to have a real emergency or extenuating circumstances to persuade your friend to pull in a favor from their boss. They must also be a treasured member of staff, so make sure your friend is not a nuff-nuff. The doctor will only go out of their way to coddle a member of staff they want to keep on their payroll.
Call your regular doctor

All primary care doctors have an ethical obligation to provide after hours care. Sometimes they have a roster of doctors on call, or they may employ a locum service. Some prefer you to attend the local after hours clinic. The best way to find out what your doctor would want you to do is to phone their main number and listen to the recorded message.

If you are lucky, you will find out that your doctor has extended their hours since you last checked, or may be willing to stay a little bit longer to fit you in.

Visit a 24 hour clinic or "Super Clinic"

Super Clinics are usually open all hours, often with more staff available after hours. The quality of staff varies, although all are qualified to a minimum standard. These clinics are a good solution for any after hours primary care emergencies, like cuts and grazes, sprains, colds and flus, and childhood illnesses. The system varies, but usually you attend and simply wait until it is your turn. Usually the wait will be longer than an appointment with your regular doctor, but shorter than attending a hospital ED.

These are not good places to go if you have a condition that could deteriorate rapidly, like chest pain, or asthma. It is better to have these things assessed by hospital staff.

These are also not good clinics to attend for regular appointments, as you can't usually get repeat appointments with the same doctor.

Call a locum service

Locum services provide primary care doctors that make house calls after hours. This is usually a paid service (as are most after hours services). Again, you will have to wait an unpredictable amount of time, as it depends on what other patients have called in. However, you get to wait in your own home for the doctor to visit you. This is particularly valuable if you feel rotten, or you are minding children who are asleep.

Locum services will communicate with your regular doctor so they know what has occurred. If you are not sure how ill you are, locums are generally a good option. You can cancel the call if you decide you feel better. And if your condition deteriorates, you can call an ambulance.
What to do now

When it is 2am and your partner is having an episode of abdominal pain, it is really hard to figure out what to do, and often they are not helpful (she speaks from experience). It is important to figure out your plan in advance. Search your telephone guide right now and find where your local after hours clinics, and the number of your town locum service. Next time you visit your doctor, ask the staff what to do for after hours care.

Being prepared, and in the know, will help you find the "doctor of the night".

Dr Christine (Cris) Cuthbertson (DrCris)

Cris is a medical doctor in Melbourne, Australia. She has had numerous scientific articles published, and writes regularly for three blogs. She is keen to enable patients to access better healthcare by sharing her inside knowledge of the industry.