title: Emergency medical systems in Czechoslovakia.
abstract: The year 1987 witnessed the "velvet revolution" of Vaclav Havel and the beginning of democratic reform in Czechoslovakia. As the country struggles to build a market-based economy, it maintains a well-developed socialist system of health care that is patterned after the former Soviet system and is free to all (Am J Emerg Med 1984; 2:455-456). Formal private medical practice does not exist. Non-emergency care is provided by multispecialty, primary-care oriented clinics (polyklinka) where after-hours visits are possible due to the presence of on-call physicians. In small towns such an on-call doctor would be a general practitioner, but in large cities an internist, pediatrician, and surgeon might all be available.
authors.affiliation: Carson-Tahoe Hospital, Carson City, NV.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Elam
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D003604:Czechoslovakia; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D014187:Transportation of Patients