Day 16: May 29th, Discussion of Health in Krems

In every system there are advantages and flaws, for there is no system that is perfect and depending on your perspective one system may be better than the other. That is why it is important to examine both our own systems and other systems used in the world. A great example of this is the American Health Care System versus the Austrian Health Care System. Both have their advantages and disadvantages but in the end one has to think of what is better for the people. The Austrian system runs on the ideal mandatory insurance payed on different rates based on income to support everyone equally. This makes healthcare affordable, accessible, and quell to all. Which in the eyes of many including myself is the best system to have in order to improve the health of a nation as a whole. In American we may get to choose how much we want to pay and what kind of insurance we want and to what extent it goes to, but not everyone can have insurance if they need it. So when they do get sick the uninsured fall into debt or even worse situations. The Austrian system is also advantageous because it is possible to do private insurance and care if someone wishes to do it (though their general hospitals are more then adequate). Even if you don't have private insurance you can choose your own doctor and have freedom in your insurance. Overall I think the American System could learn a lot form Austrian in the insurance and healthcare division. There are some things I do think that the American System does better. In Austria there is a clear division between doctors and nurses. Doctors do most to all of the work for the patient when it comes to their health, while the nurse is there more as a caretaker getting food and different things the patients need. There is also a very different level of respect for a doctor versus a nurse. In American we have a varying range of nurses that have different responsibilities in the hospital, and have more respect from society as whole. This helps the patients get better care since they do not always have to wait specifically for a doctor for help. Doctors in Austria on theater hand are often overworked because they have to be extremely hands on with their patients. As a whole I enjoyed learning and comparing the two health care systems and I an glad we were able to visit Danube University.

Another very interesting thing we did while at the University was talk with some of the medical school students. While we didn't really talk much about school we did talk throughly about cultural differences and ideas about the others culture. It was very interesting to see what they thought about Americans and how similar some of our thoughts were. We also found out we had pretty similar senses of humor (at least I thought we did). I also will admit I did not get to talk with them as much as I wanted. Much like our own groups they had their own groups which they preferred talking to. I am usually very outgoing and really excited to talk to other students especially from other cultures, but I guess today just wasn't my day for it. I did enjoy talking with them when I did though. I also enjoyed the House vs. Prof program and discussion (even though I didn't understand much of the medical terminology they used). The doctor that was there to discuss the diagnosis was very intelligent in what he was explaining and I was able to understand the basic idea despite not know the terminology. Another thing we did with a student from the university was go snack and drink (which I did not do) by the Danube River and walk around the city. Krems as a whole is a very small charming peaceful despite the university and prison in its centre. I never felt uneasy there and enjoyed the fair weather. Something I did notice was the face that many of the buildings were quite old, but they were working on and already hadmnay new modern buildings near the University. It was a bit like Vienna where the old and new were colliding but Krems was doing it in a very different way since much of the change seemed recent. Today as whole was very educational and enjoyable and I hope the rest of the week is just the same, until next time!