A Visit to a Regional Hospital by Sarah Barr

After yesterday‘s visit to the children’s And women’s hospital, today‘s visit was very different. We visited a general hospital that cares for over 500,000 Costa Rican citizens. The general appearance of the hospital was very diverse compared to yesterdays visits. What I mean by this is that it was more open, had a lot of natural light and gave more of the “hospital appeal” to it. One thing that stood out to me was the waiting area for external care, which are the patients that need to be seen for general sicknesses like colds, injuries, etc. When I first saw the area I initially thought of a train or bus station because of how open it was, how the seats were set up in rows and rows and how the desks were set up to talk with incoming patients. I also noticed how numbers were flashing on the walls when it was a patient’s turn, which reminded me of a deli part of a grocery store. I thought that maybe since so many people wait for external care, the waiting time would be very long but the doctor explained that it’s only about 30 minutes. I found that very interesting because they are seeing so many patients a day because the wait times are shorter than I expected. This is another aspect of Costa Rica’s healthcare system that America need to implement to ensure a good quality of health to patients in an efficient manner.