Need Medical Help in Italy?

What do you do if you need medical care while visiting Italy? There are a few options available to visitors in case of need of medical assistance. Cost of service depends on how much your health insurance plan covers and if you have additional coverage for traveling - which is probably recommended if you know beforehand that you may need medical attention. In case you have to see a doctor make sure you have a valid ID with you - which would be a passport for those who are not EU citizens. Often guest facilities where you may be staying can direct you to the right place, but if you are on your own it is nice to be aware of how things work.

1. Farmacia

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to get sick while traveling and if you are with children it may be even more likely that they might need some sort of medical care especially if you are traveling abroad. According to the nature of your symptoms there are a couple of options to seek medical assistance. If your symptoms are not severe the first stop would be a farmacia (pharmacy). Farmacie are easily identifiable thanks to a green cross sign that lights up at dusk. Pharmacists will be able to help you if you describe your symptoms to them and can give you over the counter medications. Often they speak English but if you are in a small town it may not necessarily be true. Farmacie are not open 24hr a day and are not open on Sundays; they have their schedule. They also close for vacations and holidays. In case you need a farmacia but the one you visit is closed for any of the previously mentioned reasons, look at the information posted on a small board near its entrance. It will list the farmacia di turno, the alternative farmacia in the area that might be open. It will specify its name and address with its schedule.

2. Guardia Medica Turistica

Usually if a pharmacist cannot help you or the symptoms worsen, you may need to see a doctor. This is what happened to us last July. I walked into a farmacia with my son but as soon as they saw him they told me that he needed to be seen. They informed me that there was a tourist medical assistance available down the road, still open at that time at night. It was around 8:00 pm. This service in Italian is called guardia medica turistica

and I was unaware of its existence. It is a recent service for Italian non-residents as well as travelers that are vacationing in the area. At present many tourist areas offer this service in the summer for

non-residents who are visiting. Where we were staying for example, a small town on the Tuscan coast, the tourist medical assistance was available from July 1 to August 30. You do not need an appointment in order to use guardia medica turistica; it works on a first come first serve basis. We did not have to wait long and the doctor spoke English. I was very satisfied with the visit. The cost was 15 Euros. In case I needed a doctor to come over to our place the cost of the visit would have been 25 Euros. The doctor gave us a receipt and a prescription for medications. Make sure to bring cash because you pay on the spot. Bring your passport with you.

In order to find out if the guardia medica turistica is available in your area, you can google "guardia medica turistica + name of the city where you are staying". Its location and schedule, will be listed online. Note that this service is available only in touristic areas and during the touristic high season. Every province regulates its tourist medical assistance differently so the cost differs from province to province.

Art cities like Rome have guardia medica turistica all year around. Venice has a well-done website about tourist medical assistance available in the city. Florence offers medical services for tourists as well - check out Medical Service Firenze and the International Health Florence.

3. Continuità Assistenziale

In case you are experiencing health problems during the night or weekends, and cannot wait to see a doctor the following day, you have the option to call continuità assistenziale or the continuity of care unit. It guarantees a continuity of medical assistance when clinics are closed thus it operates in nocturnal hours, holidays, and weekends. Usually it is located at the hospital and the doctors either will come to you or give you help over the phone. Doctors will suggest the course of action that needs to be taken, prescribe medications, or sometimes send you to the hospital.

The phone number to call in case of need of medical assistance or medical advice is 116117 - the European non emergency call number. This is not for urgent medical issues, and Italian and English speaking operators are available 24 hrs during the weekend, and from 20:00 to 8:00 during the week days.

4. Pronto Soccorso

In case of a health emergency call 112. This number corresponds to 911 in the U.S.A. It is very likely that you will be taken to pronto soccorso, the emergency room. The access to medical care at pronto soccorso is determined by the code assigned to you. It is not on a first come first serve basis. At your arrival after an evaluation of the severity of your symptoms a number code is going to be determined. There are five codes:

• code 1 - red: immediate access to the emergency room. Life threatening situation.

• code 2 - orange: priority access to the emergency room. Risk of worsening clinical condition, or acute pain.

• code 3 - blue: access to the emergency room granted after code 1 and 2. Stable clinical condition, or no danger of worsening clinical condition but patient needs to be seen. In case ER is crowded, there is a chance of a long wait.

• code 4 - green: access to the emergency room granted after code 1-3. Minor urgency. There may be a long wait.

• code 5 - white: access granted after everybody else has been seen. It is not an emergency. It is guaranteed you will be seen but the waiting time may be very long and unpredictable.

Pronto soccorso for non-EU residents is not free. Visitors are responsible to pay the whole amount of the service. Cost varies from region to region.