Five years ago I had my first Czech hospital experience. I spent a week at FN Bohunice having my tonsils removed. About six weeks later I was back for a second surgery. Now I've just had my next hospital experience with a two-week stay at St. Anne's.
A normal room was for three patients with shared toilet and shower facilities down the hall. So the first thing I did was book the nadstandardní pokoje, "the above standard room."
The private room included a bedside table, desk, chairs, a television, lamp, telephone, a wardrobe, a small refrigerator, and a kettle. Plus it had its own shower and toilet. Health insurance doesn't cover the cost of the private room but for me it was well worth the 800 Kč ($37) per day. On the first and last day, the fee was only 400 Kč ($17). Well worth it.
I knew to bring my pyjamas, a robe, and house shoes. I brought an extra pillow and, along with my toiletries, I brought my own toilet paper so that I didn't need to use the generic TP. I did notice here that the hospital provided patients with pyjamas and a robe if they didn't bring their own. I was more comfortable with my own. They also issued me a knife, a fork, and a spoon to use during my stay and I needed to wash them after every meal. They gave me a one-litre pitcher and drinking glass, which they changed out every three days.
Just like at Bohunice, there was all of the chamomile tea that you could drink. It always tastes better when it's cold so I was glad to have a refrigerator. Since I had a kettle, Kája brought me a coffee mug from home and instant coffee packets. Due to Covid, visiting hours were only 14:00 to 18:00 on Wednesdays and Sundays. Since I had a private room the nurses didn't really care.
The day was pretty regimented. I got up and took a shower around 05:30 and made my bed.
At 06:00, the nurses came in with the morning meds. Then the orderly would come in and she always seemed surprised that I had already made up the bed. Breakfast was usually around 07:00 or 08:00.
Breakfast was usually a few slices of bread with butter, either some ham or cheese, and maybe an apple, yogurt, or cottage cheese.
It's a teaching hospital so there were interns making the rounds with the doctors. What a difference five years makes because this time when the doctors performed rounds everything was in Czech. If there was a word or something that I didn't understand then the doctor would say it in English but overall everything was done in Czech.
Lunch was the main meal of the day and it was usually served at 12:00.
Typical Czech, there was always a soup with lunch.
There was usually a meat dish served with either potatoes, or pasta, or dumplings. Sometimes there would be fruit.
Then after lunch, there would be afternoon rounds. Sometimes with the students and sometimes without.
In the afternoon between 15:30 and 16:00 was
svačina, which is snack time. Every day was the same snack. They would bring me a
rohlik. I don't know why but they tasted better than the rohlik I buy at the local shop.
Dinner was usually served between 17:00 and 17:30. Dinner was a bit lighter than lunch. If lunch was really heavy then dinner would be a little bit lighter.
It was usually meat and potatoes or rice. Sometimes there would be another soup but not usually.
Around 18:00 the nurse would come with the evening meds. Around 19:00 it was time to get ready for bed. I didn't need to queue up to brush my teeth or whatever because I was in my private en-suite room.
From 21:00 to 06:00 were quiet evening hours. Usually around 21:00, one of the doctors would pop in just to see if I was OK and then everything started all over again the next day.
The doctors and nurses were awesome. Again, I am amazed by how good the Czech healthcare system is. The USA has a lot to learn. On my way out I left boxes of chocolates for the nurses and doctors. I gave a box to the last group of students on rounds. There was one woman who cleaned my room twice a day and she worked at least 10 or 11 days in a row. I gave her a box of chocolates and it really seemed to make her day.
Tipping is much different here in Euroland from how it works in the USA. The biggest difference is that service works in Euroland don't live off of their tips. European employees provide an actual salary, with health benefits, to their staff which is required by law. Customers here don't need to subsidise the employees so that they don't have to provide a living wage. As someone who used to live off of tips, I have strong opinions about tipping but after almost 15 years of living in Europe I see how flawed the American system is.
While we were on holiday I saw just how out of control tipping has become in the United States. It seemed that wherever we went, there was a request to tip. I ordered a bubble tea at a food stall in Atlanta and tried to pay by card. The system prompted me to enter a tip amount in order to complete the payment. Why the hell am I being asked to tip for a bubble tea? And the system required me to swipe to a second page to confirm that I did not want to tip. We bought hot dogs at the Braves game and the again, I had to enter a tip amount in order to pay for our food at the game. 
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