Kiaxo from Bilbao! I have definitely had a tiring last 48 hours with international travel and time change, but we are finally in Bilbao. Yesterday, we spent the day touring the great city of Madrid, and the phrase “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” comes to mind (except that instead of Kansas, it’s Pittsburgh). Practically every building in Madrid held some kind of culture or history, making it a beautiful, picturesque first stop on this trip.
We got up quite early this morning. As the saying goes, “rise and shine”—well, I had definitely risen, but I was nowhere near shining. That changed the moment I saw the hotel’s breakfast spread. The orange juice was actual orange juice, and everything was incredibly fresh. Suddenly, the early start didn’t seem so bad.
After confidently navigating the metro, we arrived at the beautiful Hospital de Basurto. Before coming to Spain, I was aware of some key differences between the U.S. and European healthcare systems—most notably universal healthcare and broader access to specialists at lower costs. However, after hearing from the hospital’s program director and speaking with several nurses, I gained a deeper understanding of just how accessible healthcare truly is here. In Bilbao, every resident is assigned a primary care provider free of charge. These PCPs serve as gatekeepers to the broader medical system, monitoring patients and making referrals as needed to help prevent unnecessary strain on specialists.
Oh, and get this—ambulance rides and ER visits are totally free. Well, unless you do something epically dumb, like ignore a dozen public warnings and end up needing a helicopter rescue from a cliff you weren’t supposed to be on in the first place. Turns out even universal healthcare has its limits. Every citizen also has their own healthcare card that stores all their medical info. Can you imagine walking into urgent care without filling out a mountain of paperwork, repeating your birthday six times, and pretending you know your insurance number? CRAZY!!!
Lastly, I picked up on some smaller differences that still speak volumes about how far apart our countries are when it comes to healthcare. Some are just quirky, like how every doctor and nurse has to wear scrubs in specific colors depending on their role. Others are much bigger, like the fact that students need to hit a specific score on their high school professional exams just to be considered for nursing or medical school. I am pretty sure most people in the US don’t know what they want to do until they have worked the job for 15 years.
After our hospital visit, we met with several researchers and bioengineers at Biobizkaia, a Basque health research institute. There, I got to see their 3D printers in action—they’re using them to create biological models that help surgeons practice complex procedures (A bit of a change between the action figures I see being printed at Pitt).
Overall, today was an incredible start to this experience. I’m especially grateful that our amazing hosts speak English far better than I speak Basque or Spanish! Stay tuned for more updates from Bilbao. Gero arte! (Until later!)
