We started our day off with a lecture from Medife, by Dr. Florencia Ledesma, which is a non-profit organization founded in 2010. They are dedicated to building connections between health, education, and culture. It’s led by Jorge Piva (Executive Director) and Daniela Gutierrez (General Manager) while also being based in Buenos Aires, serving the community through public-interest initiatives that promote health and cultural integration. In between we had a little lunch and then we took a bus over to ICBA to where we heard from Monica Weis who is the chief nursing executive, Pablo Morales who is the chief nursing officer and Diego Cardoso who is a RN staff nurse. They discussed topics such as the ICBA nursing model of care, the strategic pillars, improvement method, professional development and a few more topics. We also got to tour the special private clinic where one of the physicians walked us through a video of a cardiac catheterization regarding one of his most recent patients.

Witnessing over the past few days the difference between the resources available at a private clinic like ICBA and those found in public hospitals evokes mixed emotions. On one hand it’s interesting to see the access patients of the private sector have with high end equipment, specialized staff, modern architecture, and less waiting times for care. Yet on the other it is disheartening to see that such high standards of healthcare is not universally accessible which speaks to the equity in healthcare. The public hospitals we’ve seen so far have more old architecture, less technology, small staff and a heavier patient load that ends up stretching their limited resources thin. There is both admiration for the excellence seen in private care but a sense of injustice for those reliant on often underfunded public systems. 

Fact of the day: Argentina in the past years has experienced high inflation especially back in 2023. This sharp increase in prices heavily impacts healthcare as it makes it challenging for both public and private institutions to manage costs and acquire necessary supplies.