A family doctor/general practitioner is usually the first point of contact for health issues. If you are new to the city, you can search for a doctor athttps://arztsuche.116117.de/pages/arztsuche.xhtml. That is a website of the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung.
First of all, register at the reception desk with your name and insurance card. The staff will want to know if an appointment has been made or if the consultation is needed at short notice, i.e. without an appointment. Appointments and referrals are usually handled directly. Perhaps a few questionnaires about complaints, previous illnesses, allergies, etc. have to be filled out next. If you come to the doctor's office without an appointment, you may have to wait longer, depending on the case.
The doctor usually asks about complaints right at the beginning of the consultation. The next step is the examination. Once the doctor has made a diagnosis, he or she will suggest a treatment, recommendations for action and possibly prescribe medication. The doctor will also explain how often and for how long the medication should be taken.
If the doctor makes a diagnosis that requires further treatment by another specialist, he or she will issue a referral for the doctor providing further treatment. The referral, prescriptions for medication and possible curative treatments (e.g. physiotherapy) are handed over at the end of the doctor's visit (at the registration desk). A new appointment will also be made at the registration desk, if necessary.
Doctors who also speak English or other languages can be found via the health insurance (website/telephone) or the online service of the Kassenärztlichen Bundesvereinigung https://arztsuche.116117.de/pages/arztsuche.xhtml.
Sometimes technical aids, e.g. the app "Care to Translate", are a support in the conversation with the doctor. However, the doctor should be asked before use. Sometimes doctors have the appropriate technology themselves. As far as we know, the clinics and most of the medical practices (Medizinisches Versorgungszentrum/MVZ) of the Ilm-Kreis-Kliniken and Marienstift Arnstadt have professional translation aids. It is best if the translation is already requested when making the appointment.
Then you can contact your health insurance or the on-call service of the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (free phone number 116117) as well as their online service https://eterminservice.de/terminservice. The services arrange appointments for a doctor's visit. In some cases, the service is only offered for certain specialties. Long journeys have to be accepted and the doctor of choice cannot be taken into account when appointments are made.
The first point of contact is usually the family doctor. In urgent cases, however, you can also make an appointment with a specialist without a referral, with the exception of radiologists, nuclear physicians, radiotherapists and laboratory physicians. You do not need a referral to see an ophthalmologist, a dentist or a gynaecologist for preventive examinations, for example.
If the symptoms are so serious that it is not possible to wait until the next day, the medical on-call service (free telephone number: 116117) will inform you which doctor is currently on call and how help can be provided. Even if there is no emergency, a doctor can come to your home if you are severely restricted by your symptoms.
A single pharmacy also has a service at night. You can find out which pharmacies are currently open, for example www.aponet.de/apotheke/notdienstsuche .
You are admitted to hospital, i.e. for inpatient treatment, either when the attending doctor refers you for further treatment. For example, if the situation is very urgent or the symptoms are very severe. You are also taken to hospital by ambulance after an emergency call.
In the event of severe complaints requiring urgent medical attention, the emergency medical services can be reached on 112. Paramedics and an emergency doctor will come directly to the address given. In most cases, you will then be taken to hospital by ambulance for treatment. There is usually an additional charge of 10 EURO for transport in the ambulance.
An occupational accident is an injury that occurs during work or study on campus. A commuting accident is when injured on the direct way to the university or to work. These accidents must be reported to the ASC (Hans-Stamm-Campus). The accident report form can be found on the intranet and must be handed in as soon as possible. In addition, the attending doctor must be told that it is an accident in connection with work or study.
Link to the form on the Intranet
Most vaccinations can be obtained from your family doctor/general practitioner. Before travelling abroad, you can get information about the necessary vaccinations at the public health office and, if necessary, also have them vaccinated. The Health Office in Ilmenau (Gesundheitsamt) is located in the Krankenhausstr. 12 and can be reached by telephone at 03677 6570. Before a vaccination, the personal vaccination card must always be presented. The vaccination will be entered in it.
Appointments for Corona vaccination are available in Thuringia, among others, via https://www.impfen-thueringen.de/. Information on corona vaccination is provided, for example, by the Ministry of Health on https://www.zusammengegencorona.de/
Students at the TU Ilmenau can contact Stefan Weniger or Sarah Bolz from the Psychosocial Counselling Service of the Studierendenwerk if they have any psychological complaints. The Psychosocial Counselling Service is available on Tuesdays from 3-5 pm at the telephone number 03677 69-3813, by email to stefan.weniger@stw-thueringen.de or sarah.bolz@stw-thueringen.de. You can also use the online service for a consultation appointment: https://www.stw-thueringen.de/en/counselling/psycho-social-counselling/making-an-appointment-for-consultation/.
In addition, the family doctor/general practitioner can help with mental health problems and refer patients to appropriate services if necessary.
Tests for sexually transmitted infections can be carried out by family doctors, dermatologists, gynaecologists (women's doctors), urologists (specialists for male genital organs) and the public health office. More information on sexually transmitted diseases is available from e.g. https://www.zanzu.de/en/. Zanzu is a project and website of the German Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) and the Flemish Expertise Centre for Sexual Health. The BZgA also has the website https://www.liebesleben.de/en/ on the topic of sexually transmitted infections, safer sex and sexuality.
If you have questions about contraceptives, your gynaecologist can help you. After a consultation and an examination, women can also get a prescription for the appropriate contraceptive. In most cases, you have to pay for the contraceptive yourself.
Condoms are available without a prescription in pharmacies, drugstores and supermarkets.
More information on sexuality and pregnancy can be found, for example, on https://www.zanzu.de/en/. Zanzu is a project and website of the German Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) and the Flemish Expertise Centre for Sexual Health. The BZgA also has the website https://www.liebesleben.de/en/ on the topic of safer sex and sexuality.
If you want to find out more, there are several online sources available. Two of them with reliable information are the following.
The website patienten-information.de provides information on different health topics and diseases. The portal is operated jointly by Bundesärztekammer and Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung and provides information in Arabic, German, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Turkish: https://www.patienten-information.de/fremdsprachen.
Another portal for information is https://www.informedhealth.org of the Instituts für Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen (IQWiG). The web pages are available in German and English.