The Things You Discover

[Oakman58]

Under the category of “things I didn’t know.”  I was surprised to discover that the medical center on the Breakaway was only open three hours a day, one and a half hours in the morning and one and a half in the evening.  Now I know why Dr. Adam Bricker could be in so many scenes on the Love Boat, his medical center was always closed.  😄

 

 

On a positive note, there was a vending machine available 24/7 right by the medical center that dispensed important items such as aspirin, antibiotic cream, condoms, etc.

 

[ColeThornton]

The reason for those hours is that the Doctor and Nurses are busy with their other duties as servers in the MDR's.

[shof515]

6 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

The reason for those hours is that the Doctor and Nurses are busy with their other duties as servers in the MDR's.

 

The true reason for those hours is so the medical center can bill you like 3 times the price  for out of office hours fees and surcharges if you need to see a doctor

[www3traveler]

The Medical Center is closed to passengers during certain hours so that it CAN BE OPENED for staff.

[Alatraveler1]

2 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Under the category of “things I didn’t know.”  I was surprised to discover that the medical center on the Breakaway was only open three hours a day, one and a half hours in the morning and one and a half in the evening.  Now I know why Dr. Adam Bricker could be in so many scenes on the Love Boat, his medical center was always closed.  😄

 

 

On a positive note, there was a vending machine available 24/7 right by the medical center that dispensed important items such as aspirin, antibiotic cream, condoms, etc.

 

 

Dr. Bricker was always chasing the ladies and seemed drunk all the time too!

[amygutman]

Actual cruise ship doc here to answer your question....

 

Across the cruise lines having 2 sets of clinic hours 3-4 hours morning and afternoon are common. We take care of crew and guests during both times - no designated time for crew vs guests, though crew can have early appointments on a specific basis (i.e. the medical doc and nurse may also perform their physicals on-board which takes an hour or so). 

 

The doc and nurse are available 24/7 when not in clinic...there is never a time on board that you do not have access to them in an emergency. I have been woken up at 0300 for "emergency ear wax removal" only to have the patient refuse when they realize there is a fee for this service. 

 

No...clinic visits are not free - just like drinks, shirts and bingo are not free. But I guarantee you it is significantly cheaper than anything you can get on land in the US. I have been in emergency medicine for well over 2 decades and tell you that you will never pay less for outstanding concierge service than on a cruise ship. And it truly is concierge. The nurses and physicians are excellently trained, screened and have backgrounds consisting of never less than 3 years in EM, critical care, or IM with emergency training. They will speak your language or have translator services provided for free. They will provide care from a band-aid to resuscitating you with no advanced radiography, performing our own labs and x-rays, splinting, suturing and dispensing and mixing medications. We have little back-up while also trying to arrange your transfer to a land-based facility which can mean coordinating care between multiple international entities, ships and military forces. 

 

What are we doing when we are not in the limited clinic hours? Follow-ups, infection control, drills, training, educational initiatives, paperwork necessary to land the ship in every single foreign country - yes...at 0300 in the morning when you want your nausea medication (which...by the way is free on most cruise ships for a smile and a thank you), the doc is up filing paperwork 4 hours before every port to make sure the ship can actually dock and you can go on your excursion. We check the water supply on the ship constantly, serial sanitation controls, perform physical exams, coordinate care and transportation for every crew and guest member who needs a treatment evaluation in a foreign county, and do this in 24 hours shifts which are then followed by 8-12 hours of being "off call" - but generally are full of training, more paperwork, and helping our in the clinic when it is busy. Even worse...if you happen to have a private island day - the doc who was on the prior 24 hours for clinic and shift generally follows you to that island for another 12-16 hour day to ensure your safety on that island...and then has 4-6 hours off before starting another 36 hour "day".

 

So yes...there are limited clinic hours. But please understand that you will never have faster and easier access to quality health care than on a ship. It's not a Level 1 Trauma Center, and we have absolute limitations on how we can help you in critical illnesses, but I have never been more proud of the work done by this dedicated group of professionals. 

[BirdTravels]

Thank you, Doctor

 

The expert care you provide to passengers and crew. 

[Turtles06]

24 minutes ago, amygutman said:

Actual cruise ship doc here to answer your question....

 

Thank you so much for all of that information, and for the care that you and your colleagues provide.

 

Some years ago, my wife and I were on a Med cruise on the NCL Jade -- in the middle of the winter  (it was awesome, actually) -- and were having dinner in the MDR with two other couples from our Roll Call. The six of us (all strangers before the cruise) had just spent a wonderful day together on a private shore excursion in Rome (out of Civitavecchia). In the middle of dinner, one of the men collapsed at the table.  The MDR host called the medical code; medical personnel came to the MDR immediately, and got our new friend down to the Medical Center. 

 

To make a very long night short, it was determined that the man had suffered a stroke (he is fine now, thankfully) -- the doctors and nurses spent most of the night tending to him and making arrangements to get him ashore.  Getting him off the ship was extremely difficult (and dangerous) because we were sailing off the coast of Italy in the middle of the night in a near-storm -- very rough seas and very strong winds.   After one aborted attempt, the man and and his wife were finally evacuated to a town in Italy, and a nurse from the ship went with them.   My wife and I had spent the many pre-evacuation hours with this man's wife in the Medical Center; I was extremely impressed by the actions of the medical staff (and non-medical staff as well).  

 

As I said, the story had a happy ending, thankfully.  And many thanks to the medical team on the Jade.

 

 

[salty dingo]

Wow! Candidate for best post response ever. Thanks, Doc!

[gmbhardy]

And now you know the rest of the story.

[Oakman58]

13 hours ago, shof515 said:

 

The true reason for those hours is so the medical center can bill you like 3 times the price  for out of office hours fees and surcharges if you need to see a doctor

 

I think there is more than a little truth to that statement.

[dexddd]

12 hours ago, Alatraveler1 said:

 

Dr. Bricker was always chasing the ladies and seemed drunk all the time too!

What would one expect after he worked for Kaos?

[newmexicoNita]

15 hours ago, ColeThornton said:

The reason for those hours is that the Doctor and Nurses are busy with their other duties as servers in the MDR's.

Now that just made my early morning. sometimes you make me laugh. Thanks

[Gershep]

Thank you Dr. for the information. I still feel the prices are very high, much higher than I would pay in the states. 

[billslowsky]

25 minutes ago, Gershep said:

Thank you Dr. for the information. I still feel the prices are very high, much higher than I would pay in the states. 

My experience (one time) was that the charge was similar to an urgent care center without insurance.  A couple of years ago, examined by the doctor, received some antibiotics (which worked), about $150.  

[lenquixote66]

18 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Under the category of “things I didn’t know.”  I was surprised to discover that the medical center on the Breakaway was only open three hours a day, one and a half hours in the morning and one and a half in the evening.  Now I know why Dr. Adam Bricker could be in so many scenes on the Love Boat, his medical center was always closed.  😄

 

 

On a positive note, there was a vending machine available 24/7 right by the medical center that dispensed important items such as aspirin, antibiotic cream, condoms, etc.

 

On every ship I have been on the doctor was on call in the event of an emergency.I once had to call and the doctor saw me and did not charge me extra.

[REV_Cruiser]

I had a medical problem on the Getaway about 3 years ago.  I had an allergic reaction to something, still undetermined (stone crab claws, antibiotic is was taking, who knows?).  the doctors and nurses I encountered were very nice and the care was fine.  Two visits over 3 days to the medical center, received 2 steroid shots and Benadryl tablets.  The charges on the on board account came to in excess of $800.00 US.  Thank goodness for medical insurance which covered and the NCL trip insurance which covered the remainder.  Moral of my story, care good, costs bad.

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, REV_Cruiser said:

I had a medical problem on the Getaway about 3 years ago.  I had an allergic reaction to something, still undetermined (stone crab claws, antibiotic is was taking, who knows?).  the doctors and nurses I encountered were very nice and the care was fine.  Two visits over 3 days to the medical center, received 2 steroid shots and Benadryl tablets.  The charges on the on board account came to in excess of $800.00 US.  Thank goodness for medical insurance which covered and the NCL trip insurance which covered the remainder.  Moral of my story, care good, costs bad.

 

My fiance recently had a bad reaction to a prescription medication and ended up needing an ambulance ride to the hospital. We never saw the hospital bill because that went straight to his insurance, but the ambulance bill was sent to us and then reimbursed by his insurance. For the 2.4 mile, 7 minute ambulance ride where they administered no medications or IV's, it was $868. So your two medical center visits and medications for $800 doesn't sound unreasonable to me...

[suometar]

Last March on the last day of the cruise my husband went to the Medical Center on the Getaway because of abdominal pain , intestinal blockage and vomiting. He was admitted and was kept overnight for observation.  He had a number of procedures done, all of them documented.  He was in the Medical Center for 22 hours (from 8 AM Saturday to 6 AM Sunday) and we were given 19 pages of documentation of every procedure done, meds given, etc. Along with this there was a menu of procedures and the charge for each. The cost was just under $5,919 (the largest single fee was a consultation with the Cleveland Clinic, at $499).

The following morning he was transported, via ambulance, to a local hospital. (Here I must say that as unfortunate as this was, the one piece of luck was that it happened on the last day of the cruise so that he could be admitted to a hospital in NYC.) So he ends up in the ER at Mt Sinai, and has basically the same procedures performed as at the Medical Center on board. The ER doctor admitted him to the hospital for observation overnight. The bill we got from Mt. Sinai was all of one page and the bottom line showed  $18,567.

This was our experience with the Medical Center, and both my husband and I were very impressed with their level of care.

And to those who say the the Medical Center is open only three hours a day -- they do an awful lot of medical stuff behind that door the rest of the time!

 

 

 

 

[amygutman]

On 10/9/2019 at 8:34 PM, BirdTravels said:

Thank you, Doctor

 

The expert care you provide to passengers and crew. 

🥰 I'll thank my team...they are an amazing group of internationally trained, exceptionally kind (and extremely funny) professionals. 

[amygutman]

On 10/9/2019 at 9:06 PM, Turtles06 said:

 

Thank you so much for all of that information, and for the care that you and your colleagues provide.

 

Some years ago, my wife and I were on a Med cruise on the NCL Jade -- in the middle of the winter  (it was awesome, actually) -- and were having dinner in the MDR with two other couples from our Roll Call. The six of us (all strangers before the cruise) had just spent a wonderful day together on a private shore excursion in Rome (out of Civitavecchia). In the middle of dinner, one of the men collapsed at the table.  The MDR host called the medical code; medical personnel came to the MDR immediately, and got our new friend down to the Medical Center. 

 

To make a very long night short, it was determined that the man had suffered a stroke (he is fine now, thankfully) -- the doctors and nurses spent most of the night tending to him and making arrangements to get him ashore.  Getting him off the ship was extremely difficult (and dangerous) because we were sailing off the coast of Italy in the middle of the night in a near-storm -- very rough seas and very strong winds.   After one aborted attempt, the man and and his wife were finally evacuated to a town in Italy, and a nurse from the ship went with them.   My wife and I had spent the many pre-evacuation hours with this man's wife in the Medical Center; I was extremely impressed by the actions of the medical staff (and non-medical staff as well).  

 

As I said, the story had a happy ending, thankfully.  And many thanks to the medical team on the Jade.

 

 

Your friend is very lucky...and it sounds like he had outstanding care. 

[amygutman]

23 hours ago, salty dingo said:

Wow! Candidate for best post response ever. Thanks, Doc!

😘 Can you tell that I'm proud of my team and all of the medical teams?

It's funny...I googled "The Love Boat Doctor" as I had never seen the show. I'm glad I didn't have that expectation of fun, free time, drinking and loving-up the passengers when I signed on!

[amygutman]

11 hours ago, REV_Cruiser said:

I had a medical problem on the Getaway about 3 years ago.  I had an allergic reaction to something, still undetermined (stone crab claws, antibiotic is was taking, who knows?).  the doctors and nurses I encountered were very nice and the care was fine.  Two visits over 3 days to the medical center, received 2 steroid shots and Benadryl tablets.  The charges on the on board account came to in excess of $800.00 US.  Thank goodness for medical insurance which covered and the NCL trip insurance which covered the remainder.  Moral of my story, care good, costs bad.

May I add...another moral of the story is thank goodness for travel insurance! 

I cannot tell you how many people travel without - a could be a very costly mistake. 

Glad all was well in the end. 

[amygutman]

8 hours ago, suometar said:

Last March on the last day of the cruise my husband went to the Medical Center on the Getaway because of abdominal pain , intestinal blockage and vomiting. He was admitted and was kept overnight for observation.  He had a number of procedures done, all of them documented.  He was in the Medical Center for 22 hours (from 8 AM Saturday to 6 AM Sunday) and we were given 19 pages of documentation of every procedure done, meds given, etc. Along with this there was a menu of procedures and the charge for each. The cost was just under $5,919 (the largest single fee was a consultation with the Cleveland Clinic, at $499).

The following morning he was transported, via ambulance, to a local hospital. (Here I must say that as unfortunate as this was, the one piece of luck was that it happened on the last day of the cruise so that he could be admitted to a hospital in NYC.) So he ends up in the ER at Mt Sinai, and has basically the same procedures performed as at the Medical Center on board. The ER doctor admitted him to the hospital for observation overnight. The bill we got from Mt. Sinai was all of one page and the bottom line showed  $18,567.

This was our experience with the Medical Center, and both my husband and I were very impressed with their level of care.

And to those who say the the Medical Center is open only three hours a day -- they do an awful lot of medical stuff behind that door the rest of the time!

 

 

 

 

I am glad to hear your husband did well - and yes...we do spend way, way too much of our time in front of a computer vs in front of our patients. This is a sad fact of medicine, but it absolutely does help the patient, family and (sometimes most importantly) insurance companies understand what we did. 

New York is a very expensive state to have a medical emergency in - I live and practice emergency medicine in NY and a short trip across the border could drop prices as much as 40% for some diagnoses and treatments. 

 

[ShelleyQT]

I was very impressed with the care I received from the medical clinic when I came down with a horrible case of the Flu (not a stomach virus) while on a cruise.

 

I strongly advise everyone to get travel insurance before you go!