Today was an eventful day that started with a 7am wake-up call. We met on the first floor and enjoyed the hotel breakfast- which was a variety of delicious pastries, fruits, and yogurts. After eating breakfast, we took the van to a private hospital in Buenos Aires called the Sanatorio de los Arcos. This private entity is within the Swiss Medical Group, a well-known and greatly respected sector in Argentina. As we arrived, I couldn’t believe we were standing in a hospital. It felt more to me like a hotel or a really nice school. The hospital was nothing like a typical U.S. hospital. The patient rooms were spacious with bedside furniture and flat screen tvs, along with a walk-in shower in the bathroom.

Throughout the day, we heard from four lecturers in a span of seven hours. The first speaker was Dr. Gabriel E. Novick, the former deputy of ministry of health in Argentina. Dr. Novick gave us a nice overview of the different sectors and introduced some concepts we’d be learning later on in the trip. One moment from his lecture that stuck out to me was when he compared the Argentine health system to the novel “Frankenstein”. I’ve never read this book, but based off his analogy I assume he means the health care sectors have many different moving parts. For example, the public sector is responsible for providing free healthcare through hospitals and clinics to all citizens and is mainly funded by the government. In contrast, the private sector provides services to citizens who can afford to pay for them. Among these sectors, there are ‘moving parts’ consisting of patients, regulations, and the professionals who work in each sector.

Later on, we heard from Dr. Jimenez, the former National Ministry of Health in Argentina, who gave us great insight on his job and the responsibilities of it. His ob ensured the quality, safety, and efficacy of drugs, food, medical, etc. along with controlling and supervising the delivery of health services. I found it interesting that the ministry of health does not at all focus on cost efficiency. We then heard from Dr. Jorge Lantos on aging and the COVID pandemic. He also took us on a tour of the hospital. It was really cool to see how different the hospitals are here than in the U.S. I did notice that these hospitals are not as up-to-date on technological advances as the United States. Finally, we heard from our university chaperone, Dr. Grant Martsolf. He lectured on nurse practitioners to my group and a group of nurses from the hospital. I didn’t know much about the job and Argentina does not have this position, so it was very informative for everyone. Overall, I learned a lot today and I’m excited for what tomorrow brings!

We got lunch at a local restaurant, Bio. I got pasta with cheese and veggies, it was so good!