It’s Day 4 and it was a full packed day. I started off the morning with the best hotel breakfast and went to this Cafe called Mago which had amazing coffee. Shortly after, we went to Austral and had a lecture from Dr. Medrano who was the former provincial minister of Salta. Salta is a small province and she discussed the healthcare system. Some challenges she had to deal with was the lack of access to healthcare due to being isolated and on the poorer side compared to Buenos Aires. Also, locals can’t access proper healthcare due to the lack of hospitals and primary care offices.

Shortly after the lecture, we visited Hospital A. Fernandez, which is one of the largest, efficient, hospital in the city of Buenos Aires. They provide some of the best quality care. One of my first impressions when I walked into the hotel was it looked a little bit outdated compared to the hospitals in the United States. There were many similarities n terms of machines, I saw the EKJ machines, ventilators, etc which reminded me of home.We met with Gabriel and another medical director who discussed the history of the hospital. Some things I learned was that they offer many departments which I found surprising . Ranging from the Emergency department (which is the largest) to technical department, surgery, children, etc. They do medical research in the public hospital and learned the public and private hospitals do collaborate at times. I met with some students and they discussed a little about their nursing education. They would go to theoretical class from 8-10am and do clinical right after from 10-12 to get hands on experience which differs from the U.S. One unique thing i learned was that they do not have a separate entity of psychiatric hospitals. Every hospital has around 1-2 psychiatrists, psychologists and social worker. Compared to theU.S. there are usually psychiatric departments in the hospital or just a sole psychiatric hospital that provides care.

After our lunch at Bio, we went to one of the private hospitals called Sanatorio de los Arcos. This reminded me more of a UPMC hospital due to the modern building and it appeared much more nicer. We spoke with one of the medical directors and he discussed the background of the private hospital. The hospital was funded by the Swiss Medical group. They are funded by insurance companies or people pay out of pocket money. He discussed that anyone can come to the private hospital even without insurance. One amazing thing he said was one night the flat rate was 100,000 pesos which is equivalent to 100 dollars in the US which was incredibly cheap. An MRI in the U.S. starts off around $1,500 even with insurance. This is the only hospital that has a helicopter which is cool because in Pittsburgh you hear them about every night. After the lecture, we visited one of the empty rooms and it was beautiful and looked like an hotel. They even had a code called “room service” for the patient and their family to call in for meals or any problems they need. This was a complete shock because even hotels in the U.S. can’t compare to this. Some departments the hospital offered was surgery, radiology, and one of the most known services was the Neurosurgery unit. I learned so much today and can’t wait to learn more!