In search of ideal hospital care
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By Jane Han
A place that pregnant women all visit often, besides the bathroom, is the hospital. The visits become more frequent and thorough as the weeks progress. I first started out with a routine monthly checkup, but now at 34 weeks, a mandatory three-times-a-week visit is almost feeling like a full-time job.
I’m ordered to have more frequent checkups because my twin pregnancy is categorized as high-risk. But having to haul myself to the hospital so often is definitely a challenge at the size I’m at right now.
So what happens during the visits? Twice a week, the babies are given fetal non-stress tests to monitor their heartbeats and I’m given contraction stress tests to measure any early contractions.
The remaining checkup is with my doctor to examine my overall condition, discuss questions and concerns, and just chat about anything; really, anything. This is when I find myself fascinated with hospitals in the United States.
My pregnancy began in Korea so I went to a well-established OB/GYN hospital in Seoul for the first 16 weeks. I was pretty satisfied with the overall service and care, but must admit that I often felt rushed when sitting one-on-one with the doctor, who always had an accompanying nurse that served as a “moderator” in case anyone started coming off as a “doctor hogger.”
I don’t think I’ve sat down with the doctor for more than five minutes — a lot less compared to the minimum 30 minutes I usually spend with my specialist here.
We’ll blame this part on the difference in medical systems, but it’s interesting how different doctors in Korea and the United States respond to certain questions.
For example, my specialist in Korea warned me from day one of my pregnancy to watch my weight. Each and every visit, she was on my case about my weight increase and insisted that I needed to start dieting. Yes, a diet.
Oddly enough, the weight issue never came up with my doctor here until my visit just last week. And even that, I brought it up with a concerned look on my face.
But to my surprise, my doctor responded with an assuring smile, saying, “Jane, you look gorgeous! Pregnancy is the only time you’re allowed to get big this fast.”
She told me to enjoy the moment and even gave me a nice big hug to help relieve my anxiety, in case I had any.
Of course, the doctor first checked that all my tests were normal and that I wasn’t in any danger health-wise before giving me the soothing speech. But I just found the difference interesting and wondered what my doctor back in Korea would say if I showed up with my current weight. She’d probably flip out and put me on an emergency diet.
From a patient’s point of view, it’s certainly better to be with a comforting doctor. But as rushed and blunt Korean doctors are, patients are given that much of a speedy service.
My waits during office visits in Korea rarely exceeded 15 minutes and I could even speak to the doctor on the phone whenever I had any urgent questions. Here, a 30-minute wait is typical and speaking to the doctor on the phone? Please. I can’t even get in touch with the nurse until hours after I leave a voice message.
In a perfect world, mix the two systems together and we’ll have a bunch of happy pregnant ladies. But I guess there is always a pro and con for everything.
With about a month left to go, I have about a dozen maternity visits left and, of course, the much-anticipated four-day hospital stay after my caesarean section. Wonder what that will be like. Wait a few weeks with me and we’ll find out for sure.