Today we started our day once again at 8 in the morning. It was actually a very exciting day that I was looking forward to all week. We went to Universidad Australs campus to look around, learn about the hospital connected to their University, and meet with current students. It was an hour long bus ride which was kind of a struggle for some, including myself, but when we walked in they greeted us with coffee and croissants. The coffee was really good today and was a great start to our lecture. We learned a little bit about the ways that they run their hospital at the University. They explained that it is really beneficial to have a University connected to a hospital for many reasons. It benefits the students for learning purposes, but it also provides more employees to help with the patients. They also kept stating that their main goal is patient and family care. Even when money is in or out of the picture, they care most about patient experience. After the lecture was over we got a tour of the hospital and we got to talk to students. I talked to a girl named Juana who was super sweet and explained how her nursing program is different from ones in the United States. One of the main differences I noticed was that to pass nursing school and become a nurse in Argentina, they just have to graduate University and their nursing program. In the United States once you graduate you are required to take the NCLEX which is a test needed to pass before you can officially become a nurse. I found that really interesting because that is a huge difference. Another difference however is the amount of schooling. In Argentina, Juana explained that they need to go to three years of University, graduate, and then go to 2 years of nursing school. In the United States, and for Pitt Nursing, we are automatically in the nursing program which means that after our four years of University, when we graduate, and once we pass the NCLEX we are officially RN’s. We can go to school for a speciality which would be about 2 more years, but we still graduate as RN’s, whereas in Argentina that is not the case. I enjoyed my time talking to Juana because it was really interesting to hear about the ways our programs are different. I hope we get to meet with more students another day because it was a really cool experience.
A New Amiga
