The hospital in Kežmarok (source: TASR)
A group of American students from Wisconsin University, focusing on nursing care and gender studies, visited the Hospital of Dr Vojtech Alexander in Kežmarok and Roma communities in this eastern Slovak district in early August 2016.
“The aim of the visit was a mutual exchange of experiences in educating nurses, their placement in the labour market and the offer of the nursing care professors from the Wisconsin University to participate in the preparation and implementation of the project that will focus on community nursing care, and comparing education and qualifications of nurses in Slovakia and the US,” said Lorant Paugsch from the Kežmarok hospital, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
According to the agreements, the US students should visit the hospital every even-numbered year. The next visit will thus take place in 2018.
The US students learned more about providing health and nursing care in a small town hospital. They focused particularly on the Roma community and their treatment during hospitalisation.
“During the visit, we showed them the conditions for providing health treatment in our hospital,” said Janka Bartková from the Kežmarok hospital, as quoted by SITA, adding the students were interested mostly in Slovakia’s system of educating nurses, their social status, qualifications, working conditions and salaries.
The students also visited the marginalised Roma communities where they could learn more from field workers. They were accompanied by coordinators of the national project Healthy Communities, SITA reported.
Apart from the hospital, the US students also visited the hospice in Ľubica and the Institute of Christ the High Priest in Žakovce.
