Today was the tour of Austral Hospital. For whatever reason, I thought the hospital would be run completely differently and all the similarities we saw proved it otherwise. We started in the Emergency Room and learned how they triaged patients, and walked through the NICU, PICU, and pediatric floor. We spoke to several nurses about aspects of their jobs and day to day duties. We also asked questions about how their system worked, as it is a private hospital, and how their hospital worked with other entities in Argentina (Such as the Ministry of Health and commercial and local pharmacies).

After our tour of the different departments, we also got to learn about Translational Medicine, and talk to a lady who was running a lab with Austral. She conducts studies on pain management of IBS-like pain and is working with a molecule that could potentially replace opioids in certain medicines. It’s also really interesting because the woman conducting the research will be applying for a grant from the NIH because this molecule would be so useful in the U.S. where opioids have become very dangerous.

The Hospital Universidad Austral includes their goal to “[pursue] truth and a culture of life” in their mission statement. They try to work towards this goal with all of their daily operations, research, and long-term projects. For instance, the different research projects can accomplish both goals of their mission statement. By learning more about the human body and how medicine works on it, they are uncovering the truth of medicine, and can better use it to treat patients. Their contributions to medicine can be used to help patients all over their country, and maybe even the world.

Another way the hospital pursues their goals is through their diverse range of treatments. While they don’t specialize in pediatric treatments, they do offer a lot of treatments for children, on their pediatric floor with the NICU, PICU, and even a specific pediatric transplant recovery room. Of course, they also promote wellness to their patients, and instill the importance of it to their students.

Day 3 is in the books!