Not feeling well? Don’t have a fancy medical degree? Don’t worry, Canada has your back. Here is a quick how-to guide on what to do if you need to see a doctor.
These tips are based on my experience and mostly apply to Ontario, although I suspect they work in any Canadian province or territory. Feedback is appreciated!
Assess the situation
- If it’s a true life-threatening emergency, call 911. Yes, like in the movies.
- If it’s a shit-I-don’t-know situation, you may want to contact Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 (other provinces may have a similar service). This free 24/7 service allows you to speak to a Registered Nurse. They won’t make a diagnosis over the phone but they can help you figure out what to do.
- If you have a family doctor, you can try to make an appointment.
- If you don’t have a family doctor or cannot get a timely appointment, your best option is to visit a walk-in clinic.
For the next few hours, forget about any drama you may have heard or read in the news about the Canadian healthcare system. Sure, it’s not perfect—long wait times, shortage of doctors, etc. It may be very different than what you were used to at home (hey, I know what I’m talking about, French family doctors used to make home visits!). But the level of care you will get in Canada is good. Plus, again, you don’t have a medical degree, do you?
Go online
Alright, so we are going to assume that, like many Canadians, you will go to a walk-in clinic to see a doctor. A walk-in clinic is basically a medical facility that accept patients on a walk-in basis and with no appointment required. They are usually in a convenient location, sometime in places you wouldn’t expect, for instance inside supermarkets. Most are affiliated with a network: in Ottawa, the Appletree medical group is one of the most common brands.
Go online and get information about the clinic. Check the opening hours (they vary widely), check if there are any restrictions (for instance, some doctors won’t see kids) and most importantly, check the wait time if it is available. Appletree clinics do have a relatively up-to-date wait time average. In some clinics, it will be four hours, in other, it will be only 30 minutes. Pick accordingly if you are flexible about the location. You don’t want to spend a morning sitting in a room full of sick people.
Don’t forget to take your health card with you! If you don’t have it, you will have to pay for the visit. As of 2015, most clinics in Ottawa charge $60 for a doctor visit. On a side note, if you do have a health card but it’s expired or if you forget it, you can get the visit fee refunded once you show proof of coverage (it will take months to get a cheque, though).
Check in at the clinic
Push the door and don’t expect to be greeted by a human being. A few clinics have a receptionist but most simply have a self-service kiosk where you have to register providing basic information such as your name, health card number and reason for the visit. They you will be issued a number. You can now go sit by the giant one-litre bottle of hand sanitizer and breathe in the germs (or grab one of the masks provided and breathe in your own germs).
Distractions in the waiting room are very limited. Don’t expect a TV or magazines. Bring your own if your fever isn’t high enough to just stare idly at the wall and if you’re not a fan of brochures detailing the various kinds of STDs you could catch.
Wait time really varies. You will get an idea counting the number of people in the waiting room, but remember that a walk-in clinic consultation doesn’t take long. On occasion, I only waited for about ten minutes. The longest wait time for us was about three hours, I think.
Meet the nurse
At one point, a nurse will call your name and you will be led to a small room for an interrogation… I mean, a first assessment. The nurse will confirm your information and ask about your symptoms. Remember that you are a new patient so mention anything that could be relevant in your medical history or in your recent history (for example if you’ve been abroad, if you were in contact with someone sick, etc.).
The nurse may check your fever, blood pressure, etc., and leave.
Get ready to wait some more in this tiny room.
If you came with someone, the person may stay with you the entire time if you wish so. However, bringing several people may be frowned upon (did I mention how tiny the exam room is?).
Meet the doctor
Eventually, the doctor will come. Don’t expect social niceties (this is one of the rare times when a Canadian doesn’t engage in small talk!) and get to the point: from my experience, you have about five minutes to make your case. I’m not kidding. A few doctors will be adamant that they treat one problem per visit, so don’t start asking about something unrelated to your current symptoms.
Doctors each have a style. Some will tell you what’s going on, others will leave without a word and the nurse will come back with a prescription. They are usually cordial but very rushed and it shows.
Note that doctors don’t prescribe easily here (less than in France, I find). You will often be told to take over-the-counter medicine or to “wait it out.” If you need further medical tests (blood work, X-rays, etc.) you may be referred to another facility.
There will be no follow up and you are not guaranteed to see the same doctor again if you come back, so get all the information you need.
And that’s it! You can leave, if you are covered with OHIP (in Ontario) or other health insurance system in your province, you don’t have to pay anything.
A few useful links:
- Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP)
- Healthcare options in Ontario
- Appletree Medical Group
- Health Care Connect (to find a family doctor in Ontario)
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Thank you France for not being that way! What I hated the most were doctors being angry at me because I came in and I wasn’t sick enough for their taste (in a wal-in clinic, not at the ER).
That sucks! As if you’d come in just for fun…
Ya, I love waiting four hours on a chair 😉
And not just any chair, these awful plastic chairs!
I just paid my $60 to go to the walk in to get checked out after my crash. The wait time in walk ins here are way better than in the UK! I need to go and get my health card – they told me to wait for my permanent resident card – but I am going to try to get it first so that I can go back and see about getting a refund.
Are you eligible for OHIP already? I remember that there was a three-month gap of coverage when you land as a PR, at least that was the case ten years ago.
Are you okay (physically) after the crash?
I remember the first time i went to Appletree for my mom. It was decent. I am actually going there today at their travel clinic.
When are you going? And… why? Never got the chance to ask you about the upcoming trip!
We are going to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang, Malaysia just for vacation for 2 weeks. I have questions to ask you because this is going to be first time to travel with my son. Nerve-wracking !!!
This is awesome! I know the places too, we’ve been there in 2010 (you can check on the blog the travel diary). It was before Mark though. I think traveling with a kid is fine, it’s challenging but so rewarding. Plus he is young but not so young anymore. I wouldn’t travel with an infant.
I did check your travel post on those places and it did help 🙂 My issue is figuring out if i want to take his carseat, or buy the kid belt thing, or just take him on my lap for the entire trip? Advice? Suggestions? I kept hearing people saying oh travelling with infant is much better and travelling with toddler is hell ! Ahahh so confusing !!!
The first trip we took with Mark in Mexio, we actually bought a car seat at Walmart when we arrived. We brought it back to Canada, using it as a spare 😆 I find the belt is SUPER useful and he can probably use it now… car seats are bulky. How will you travel around?
Pour le moment, côté médecin on s’en sort pas mal. J’ai un médecin de famille mais ce n’est pas la peine d’essayer de la voir pour une urgence, même otite ou autre. Elle est plutôt là pour le suivi. Elle suit aussi mes filles dans une clinique pédiatrique (mais c’est une clinique naze, et son suivi ne sert pas à grand chose à mon goût alors j’aurais tendance à faire sauter les rdv si je n’étais pas curieuse de connaître leurs tailles ;)). Ensuite j’ai mes walk in préférés : celui où je vais quand je suis malade mais que je bosse et que j’ai besoin de wifi pour continuer à travailler. C’est à la chaîne. Plutôt deux minutes que cinq minutes niveau rencontre avec le médecin. Et tu as intérêt à le dire si tu es allergique à un médoc ou enceinte parce que le médecin te demandera rien!! Quand j’ai besoin d’un vrai diagnostique je vais ds une autre. On y attend pas très longtemps et le service est vraiment bon. Par exemple, enceinte, j’ai fait une cystite (mais jsuis habituée), ils ont fait faire des analyses d’urine plus poussées car, selon le medecin, ils préfèrent le faire systématiquement pour les femmes enceintes. Enfin, pour mes filles, j’ai trouvé un walk in pédiatrique vers chez moi. De bons médecins. Et c’est parfait!!
J’ai entendu dire que la situation au Québec était encore pire qu’en Ontario, niveau rareté des médecins et attente. Mais forcément, ça dépend des coins, voire des quartiers.
Ça m’a pris des années pour avoir un médecin de famille. Je n’adore pas la mienne, mais c’est elle qui est la docteur de Mark et qui a fait tout le suivi crucial des deux premières années. Je n’aurais pas aimé devoir aller à la walk-in clinic pour ça.
Oh non c’est clair, devoir faire le suivi en walk-in, non merci!
Back home, this profession is highly non-regulated. Most doctors have private clinics, some need an appointment, most do not, it is India :), doctors will be kind enough to answer your call in the middle of night as well, my cousin does, he’s a doctor. And yes if your cousin is a doctor, that is like your health insurance 🙂 free medical services, lol. I think doctors get abused most by the relatives.
And we have Ayurveda, it’s a bliss if you find the right doctor, I know coz I did find one last year. The guy fixes serious problems like slip disc issues and asthma like it’s the easiest thing to do, I forgot to mention, he doesn’t usually charge 🙂 You will find such guys in India, I know a few, isn’t that something?
Thanks for the article, it’s going to be helpful for us 🙂
I do hope it helps, but I also hope you won’t need a doctor anytime soon.
In fact, many of the doctors you see in walk-in clinics were trained abroad, including in India 😉
India does make many a doctors 🙂
But you know Indian read (or any foreign read) doctors have to go through a very stringent process before they can practice medicine in north america, which is a good thing in a way, however if they delay MRI that long what good really is it?
I know, this is an issue. However, this is why I feel so comfortable with foreign-trained doctors: they went through so much training and testing, they HAVE to be good 😆
“If you have a family doctor, you can try to make an appointment.”
Great advice! I’m wondering why i didn’t think of that. Maybe I’m stupid. My doctor told me he can’t treat stupid. Can you recommend any who do?
Do you need context? I have a family doctor but sometimes, the earliest appointment is a week later. It’s perfectly fine to renew a prescription, not so great if you’re really sick and need antibiotics.
Also, emphasis on “try”. There are times when I couldn’t reach the health centre my doctor works in.
thank you so much for this, i appreciate this breakdown so much, so helpful for a newcomer to Canada!!
I wish you health, so that you won’t have to go through the walk-in clinic experience too often! 😉
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