Today was our last day in Spain. After breakfast we headed to the Bilbao School of Engineering. We listened to a presentation about the user-end experience of the healthcare system in Spain. I was very surprised by how easy it was to make appointments with their patient portal and how fast primary care appointments were available. Also, it was very interesting to see how all of the health information is shared between hospitals and the user portal very seamlessly. Surprisingly to me, there was no billing section on the user platform and no place to even see how much things cost for the government. After the presentation we got to see two student projects that are occurring in the engineering school. The first was a prosthetic hand that the students and professors have been designing for a man who lives in the area. Next school year they are going to a regional competition between universities designing this type of technology, where the user will have to perform different tasks with the hand. Following this we looked at a project where students and professors were working to create electric guitars. It was very cool to see all of the different components that make up these instruments. We even got to see Dr. Abramowitch play the guitar!
After lunch we took the metro to Getxo to see the hanging bridge. The hanging bridge was very cool. We took an elevator to get to the top part where people can walk across. Thankfully, I am not scared of heights otherwise I would not have liked it as much. Once we were done at the hanging bridge the 19 of us got coffee and sat in a coffee shop until it was time to leave for dinner. We took the metro to the restaurant on the beach where we had one last dinner together. Even though it was rainy we had an amazing time at dinner. It was so nice to sit with everyone and reflect on the trip together. After dinner we took a bus back to the hotel. On the drive we all hung out and sang together, it was an amazing way to end the trip.
Overall, these past two weeks have been amazing and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to do this. I learned so much about the different structure of the healthcare system in Spain. I also learned the importance of interdisciplinary work between engineers and nurses. Prior to this trip I was somewhat unaware of the immense amount of overlapping work these two professions do. Additionally, I learned so much about the process of clinical trials and innovation that many medical devices undergo before appearing in medical settings. I learned so many skills that I will implement into not only by education but also my career. I had such a great time on this trip and made eighteen new friends that I will have for the rest of my life!