Emergency practice
As emergency practice is known in Germany means the panel doctors that are outside the normal business hours of the established practices in medical emergencies acts in major cities as a central medical office with changing doctor-occupation.
concept
In addition to hospitals , the statutory health insurance physicians are generally responsible for ensuring medical care. In the times outside the office hours of the resident doctors, there is therefore a comprehensive on-call service in a practice set up specifically for this purpose ("emergency practice"). The premises are usually located at selected hospital locations. B. the medical diagnostic facilities of the hospitals can be used more directly.
The practices managed in this way are then alternately manned by the independent statutory health insurance physicians on duty who, unlike in the past, now perform the emergency service there at a central location and no longer in their own practice rooms. The aim was also to create a central contact point, which has fundamentally changed the medical on-call service, which had been organized on a decentralized basis for decades.
Nationwide uniform phone number
Since the beginning of 2012, the emergency practices can also be called via the national hotline "116 117" of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. The call is free. A Europe-wide uniform introduction of the number is also being planned .
Times
Depending on capacity and demand emergency practices are, however, regional occupied at different times. What all practices have in common, however, is that they only open after the regular hours of work for the independent doctors. In particular, the classic doctor's office closing time on Wednesday afternoons as well as Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are covered. Especially in metropolitan areas, there are usually additional evening opening times on other weekdays. Callers outside of the on-call hours only receive information about the on-call hours. In the cities of Berlin and Frankfurt am Main as well as in the entire state of Bavaria , the medical on-call service and thus also the number “116 117” are available 24 hours a day.
Differentiation from the emergency clinic in hospitals
The emergency clinics of the hospitals , which are also located at a hospital, are to be clearly distinguished from the emergency practice , but in contrast to the emergency practice, they are operated by the respective hospital itself.
While in the emergency practice of the resident doctors only non -life-threatening illnesses can be treated, the entire spectrum of emergency medicine is usually available in the emergency clinics of the hospitals . In order to relieve the emergency clinics, however, it is advisable to only visit them outside of the opening times of the regular doctor's and emergency practices or only in very serious cases.
Treatment spectrum
The range of treatments offered by emergency practices does not include emergency dental care . There are separate telephone numbers and separately organized dental on- call services .