Today started off with a 1.5 hour bus ride to the Austral University main campus. The campus was not only a university but a hospital as well. When we arrived at the hospital, we had a lecture where the business side of healthcare was highlighted. At austral, they have 221 beds and the average length of stay is 5 days. The biggest payer is Oside and the second biggest is Swiss Medical. Some challenges we learned about include financial sustainability, managing increased demand for services, and healthcare staff shortages. We then took a tour of the hospital and learned more about the nursing program at Austral, which is alike and different from ours. There are no standardized tests in their program such as NCLEX, no GPA requirements, the first month you do not have any patients, you simply have a mentor, and the program usually lasts 3-5 years. Clinicals usually start first semester and most nurses work M-F, where we are used to 3 days/12 hours. After our visit and mixer with austral, we headed to another public hospital to hear more about the public sector. The public sector hospital gave us another basis for comparison and allowed me to better compare the public and private sectors. They were so appreciative of nursing and business students visiting their hospital and made us feel so welcome. It was especially interesting how the nurse who was speaking with us came from Austral herself, which is a private hospital, and why she made the switch from the private to the public. In comparison to Swiss Medical, Swiss was a more established hospital but not much different from Austral. Swiss may have been a little nicer than Austral, but each room still had a bed with a bathroom. At Austral, they said some rooms have 2-3 beds, but not many do. At Swiss Medical, they did not mention rooms having any other than 1 bed. Swiss Medical seemed more as a long-term stay hospital in terms of the amenities while Austral reminded me more of a traditional hospital. Tomorrow we will be heading to the ranch!!
