We had our last full day of lectures and hospital visits today! It has been so interesting getting to compare the different systems in Argentina and getting to see how those systems work in the hospitals. Our first stop today was at the public hospital Paroissien. We met with both the administration of the hospital and current nursing students. The hospital was similar to the public hospital Fernandez that we saw last week as you could see from the lack of funding that they both receive in the rooms and architectural structures.
After our informative visit to Pasoissien, we headed over to the University of La Matanza which is a public university located in Matanza. We got a tour of the campus which was cool to see since most universities in Argentina don’t have campuses. They showed us the different buildings including a theater that they have on campus where shows and concerts will come so they don’t have to go all the way to Buenos Aires. We also got to see the health building including their simulation rooms. The simulation rooms were very similar to the ones we have at Pitt, we even got to see nursing students doing a simulation for a pediatric patient. For public universities in Argentina you have to take an entrance exam to get in but once attending the university it’s free, for private there is no exam but you have to pay. Currently to get into Pitt exams like the SAT and ACT are not required but you still have to pay even though it’s a public university and the amount depends on whether you are in-state or out-of-state. Another thing that was mentioned is how sports teams at universities are a much bigger thing in America but they do have spaces for people to play sports at the La Matanza.
To end our day we headed over to Palermo and had a tour of the street artwork. Every side street and most buildings had the most beautiful artwork by various artists and portrayed many different styles. I loved getting to learn the backstory behind some of the art and it was interesting to learn that artists don’t need to go through the city or government to get permission to paint on these buildings they just need the owner’s permission.
