After getting some much needed rest this weekend, we woke up bright and early and made our way to the private hospital and university of Austral, which was a little over an hour from our hotel. We met with a doctor there who is a board member and also the chair of the quality and safety department of the hospital. He explained the different goals of the hospital, which are: patient and family centered care, quality and safety, efficiency, and innovation and digital transformation. He also discussed the effect COVID-19 had on the hospital. Since many people were so fearful of coming to the hospital during this time, Austral actually closed for about 1-2 months. The main challenge the hospital faces now is that the hospital is becoming overcrowded, and they have to send people away. I found this surprising because I thought the whole point of having private hospitals is to avoid the long wait times in the public hospitals.

Swiss Medical Group was the other private hospital we visited last Monday. The main similarity Hospital Universitario Austral shares with Swiss Medical is that they both have their own insurance plans and are HMOs, which give access to all of the doctors and facilities within their networks. However, Austral receives a lot less money through their own insurance compared to Swiss Medical. Additionally, the two companies have different strategies for wait times. Austral has increased their prices to lower the quantity of customers and demand for their healthcare. Swiss Medical seems to be more efficient and gets patients in and out to avoid long wait times.

After the hospital visit, we went to a palliative care center in Austral for people with highly chronic conditions and are nearing death. It was really interesting to hear the staff’s outlook on how they want to provide care. They focus on peace and happiness of the patient, and do not force them to do anything they do not want. If the patient requests something, the staff does their best to make it happen. For example, we heard stories about a horse that was brought to the facility for a patient who used to ride horses and a choir for a patient who was a choir director. The families are also able to stay at the facility all day. I thought these methods were really touching and effective ways of keeping the patient as comfortable as possible before they pass.

Lastly, we visited the University of Austral, and ate lunch with some students. We were split into groups to work on case studies with the students as well, and this was super fun. Elise and I paired up with two girls named Clara and Carmela, who are also first year nursing students. After we talked through our assignment, we got to know each other and found that we have a lot of things in common! We listen to similar music and watch similar shows. We even made a group chat on WhatsApp and have been texting in it since we left! I was really happy to make some friends and we are thinking about meeting up with them again before we leave!

I will be back tomorrow with more adventures to discuss, and only a few more days left. 🙁