Day 2 in Argentina was a success! We started our day off at 8:00 AM hopping on a bus to the Universidad Austral and the hospital that’s near that was private. We were greeted with a delicious breakfast with croissants and coffee. We then got the chance to listen to a presentation presented by one of the university’s alumni and nursing professor. They told us about how nursing is structured in Argentina and its private sectors. After, we then were able to connect with some of the business and nursing students from the university by having lunch with them which consisted of empanadas. We were given a case study that involved both majors and we all had to work together to come up with a solution while also learning about themselves.
Challenges Facing Private Hospitals in Argentina:
A major challenge in Argentina’s health care is that there is a nursing shortage. Many go into college to study to be physician rather than to be a nurse. This is due to the fact that nurses are often overlooked and looked down upon. Many of those who are nurses are not trained well as well as patients having more trust in physicians because they have more education. There are more nurses in private hospitals because the salary is more compared to a public hospital, while also having a better environment. In addition, many nurses tend to work in the city rather than rural areas due to the salary. According to the presentation, there are eleven percent of those who have their BSN compared to the US which has a much higher percentage. Due to the low salaries of nurses and lack of recognition makes it hard for them to achieve financial stability, leading to many working two jobs. Finally, we had the opportunity to tour the hospital with all different levels. Starting from the emergency there were outpatient and inpatient, which led you to two different sides and different care. We then experienced units like neonatal, pediatrics, general adult, etc.
