Today was probably my favorite day so far. We visited another public hospital, called Paroissien Hospital, and I liked this experience better than the public hospital yesterday. The first thing that caught my attention was the vaccination center and where they analyze specimens on microscope slides. I particularly liked this because we learned about this in our microbiology class and practiced it in our labs. It was cool to see something that I’ve learned about being applied in the healthcare world. The director mentioned that they don’t do this kind of analysis in private hospitals, which I thought was very interesting. The speakers mentioned numerous times that their care in the public hospital was of higher quality than the private hospitals. They obviously have some bias since they work there so I don’t know if that is actually true. The hospital had cats roaming around and lacked the overall cleanliness that the private hospital had. Even though it may not be of the best quality, I still think it is a great opportunity for poorer citizens to access healthcare for free.
Once we arrived at La Universidad de La Matanza, so many staff members were there to greet us and welcome us into the school. I immediately noticed how strong the university’s relationship with is the community. The university has a passion for helping high school students figure out their career paths, which is pretty different from Pitt.
Throughout our day, I really enjoyed talking with one of the students, Eugenia. She is a fifth year nursing student, a teaching assistant at the university, and works as a technician in the hospital. She explained that they start going in hospitals their first year of nursing school, different to us starting clinicals during our second year. It was a great experience to bond over nursing school with someone from a different country.
One thing that is evident within the healthcare and education systems in Argentina is the idea of equity. The free public options provide access of healthcare and education for communities of lower incomes, so all citizens have access no matter their situation. Although they have access, the quality of care is not equal among the citizens of Argentina. This brings about the importance of health equity over health equality. Equity means that each patient gets different care to achieve the same level of health, which does not exist in Argentina. I think the implementation of private and public systems helps improve access, but limits quality of care among citizens. Poorer people might need more care than someone with a higher income at a private hospital, and although they have the access to the healthcare, it might not be what they need because it is a public hospital with limited funds and long wait times.
Today was a very insightful day, and I particularly enjoyed it because it was a different style of learning than the other days. I can’t wait to meet more students and nurses in the upcoming days. See you tomorrow!
