Today was the third day in the city of Birmingham. As time rolls on, I feel my excitement growing every day. When I feel as though, I’ve discovered all there is to see and learn, I immediately become aware of how little I truly know about Birmingham and the United Kingdom as a whole.
On today’s agenda, our group spent most of its time at Birmingham City University. The university arranged for us to listen to multiple speakers and get a crash course on United Kingdom’s healthcare systems, the roles within the systems, and new strategies being implemented for future care. While listening to the speakers, I began to better understand the differences between a universal and non-universal healthcare system. One distinct commonality between U.K. and U.S. healthcare systems is patient care, as it is to provide “care from the cradle to the grave.” This was like the concept of patient-centered care taught during my lectures back in the states. Another commonality is the promotion of integrated care being applied to a patient’s care plan. This method allows for less stress on one group of workers, and for each member of a taskforce to reveal their strengths and receive aid at times of weakness. The most obvious difference between U.K. and U.S. healthcare systems is that one is fully funded by the government, while the other requires health insurance. An alarming difference between the two systems is the loss of healthcare coverage during unemployment in the United States. Healthcare is not tied to your employer in the United Kingdom since it is provided freely to all its citizens, so the trauma of losing your healthcare coverage when you lose your job is rare here. While there are numerous advantages and disadvantages to both systems, the most important message I received from today’s classes was the passion healthcare workers from each system apply to their jobs. I hope to find my niche within the field of nursing. The feeling of doing what you love to do each day is almost surreal, and I can’t wait to experience such satisfaction during my career.
Well, that is all for today, cheers!
