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| As
part of its program for Mexican communities abroad,
the San Antonio-based Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores
of Mexico, organized a workplace exchange in which
six U.S. nurses spent a week in a hospital in Mexico.
Nurses of Hospital General Regional de Sahuayo in
Sahuayo, Mexico, were among the staff that welcomed
the visiting San Antonio group. |
In October, six nurses from University Hospital in
San Antonio visited Hospital General Regional de Sahuayo
in Sahuayo, Mexico, a town of about 20,000 in the state
of Michoacan, southeast of Guadalajara. One of the first
things they noticed was the Mexican nurses' white uniforms
and caps. But that was only one of many differences
they observed between the health care systems of the
two countries.
The weeklong exchange was arranged by the Secretaria
de Relaciones Exteriores of Mexico as part of its program
for Mexican communities abroad. Marco Antonio Fraire,
press and community affairs officer for the agency,
based in San Antonio, explained that the Mexican government
is interested in improving the quality of a variety
of services, including health care, for Mexicans living
in the United States.
"An exchange like this is a chance to understand
each other's systems," Fraire said. "Because
San Antonio hospitals care for many Mexicans, the people
here need to understand the expectations of patients
coming from that system. The trip immerses the participants
in the culture so they see how people behave in Mexico
and return with more understanding."
University Hospital posted flyers about the trip and
was able to take all the nurses who signed up. The Mexican
government provided room and board for the nurses, and
American Airlines donated airfare.
"This program could be done anywhere," Fraire
said. "Our interest is to serve the Mexican community
that is already here in the U.S. by showing people our
way and telling them about our people." [If your
hospital or group is interested in an exchange trip
to Mexico, contact the nearest Mexican consulate.]
Nancy Ray, MA, RN, associate administrator at University
Hospital, participated in the exchange along with 14
other nurses.
"There was a great deal of value in our nurses
seeing the cultural component and expectations there,"
she said. "For example, we saw how family is so
important, and we need to accommodate that here. I gained
a personal appreciation for being somewhere and you
don't speak the language and can't communicate. I see
how that must be for people here who are at their most
vulnerable, in the hospital.
"If I didn't believe before that we need Spanish
in our hospital, I certainly would now."
The hospital in Sahuayo has 42 beds, an infant ICU,
emergency room and a surgical suite. The facility employs
about 200 people, 51 of them nurses. According to Arnulfo
Degollado, a doctor and administrator of the hospital,
doctors and nurses at the public hospital are employees
of the federal government. They are assigned to their
jobs based on need and seldom change. The hospital serves
a large geographic area of mostly rural villages that
includes 1 million people. All services are provided
free of charge or on a sliding scale to workers and
their families. A separate, private health care system
serves those who can pay.
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