We began the day, per usual very early in the morning with a jump start on a ride to Hospital Interzonal General de Agudos (Hospital Paroissien). This is a public hospital that is in Isidro Casanova, which is a part of La Matanza in Buenos Aires. It is completely funded and managed by the government and provides essential care for patients in the community. This was extremely different just based on settings compared to the other private and even public hospitals we visited in terms of the building’s conditions, but this hospital is still very crucial to the community and its people.
Next, we took another bus ride to the Universidad de la Matanza where we met with the nursing students and had a chance to talk with them about the differences in their schooling and experiences so far. This university offers a Nursing program that is part of its health sciences curriculum. Students learn the essential nursing skills like patient care and healthcare management, which ultimately aims to help prepare their students to be compassionate for diverse healthcare settings. This I think is very similar to the standard in which we uphold at Pitt Nursing as we strive to be able nurses from clinical experience, research opportunities, and engagement beyond the classroom. One of the similarities that I noticed was their simulation lab, which was very impressive, as it allows students to learn from mistakes without risking real patients. However, one of the differences that their curriculum is over 5 years not 4 like ours and also all of their students commute as they none of them live on campus. Some students live 2-3 hours away maybe more, so their day-to-day schedule very much differs from ours as we are able to have access to multiple different hospitals within walking distance from our nursing building.
To end the day, we went on a graffiti walking tour in Palermo where we were able to learn about the cultural and historical origins of street are in Argentina. It is filled with colorful streets, cafes, artistic expression and local artists work, iconic murals, and so much more.
Overall successful day, until tomorrow’s adventures…signing off