I've been away for the past few days on our Medical Practice and Policy Short Study Tour to Western Denmark. Let me recap:
We left Thursday morning from Copenhagen, our first stop was the Hamlet Hospital in Frederiksberg. The hospital is unique in that is is private. After a presentation about the workings of the hospital we were given a tour. It was interesting to compare the public hospital in which we have classes to a private hospital. As far as the quality of the hospital, there really isn't that much of a difference in the private versus the public. It is also interesting that the private hospital does treat public patients with public insurance when the capacity of the public hospital is unable to keep up. So, the private hospitals have gone through a progression. They used to be an alternative to the public hospitals, right now they act as a buffer to the public system. However, they are gradually becoming two parallel systems. To me the private hospital looked more like a more advanced outpatient clinic, then an actually hospital (they have no emergency department for example). The visit was a unique opportunity to contrast the public versus private care within the context of a comprehensive public health care system.
After leaving the hospital we traveled on to Århus. Because we were running late our hour long walking tour of the city was reduced to about 15 minutes. But in a way 15 minutes of this tour was more than enough. After checking into our hostel (which by the way was in the woods, a good 20 minute walk from the city), we had dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant. Good food (lots of it), good drinks, and good company. Later on I met up with Walter and Tami. After standing on a street corner and conversing for probably a good hour or so we went to the Social Club. The primary reason for this was there was no cover for students, AND free beer for the first hour. It was a great time to hang out with fellow students outside of the classroom.
Friday was packed full of events. First was the Steno Museum which is a museum for science and medicine. The guided tour was fantastic. Of particular interest to me was the pharmacy exhibit, which of course I had to stop and spend time investigating. Of course they had the normal bottles of drugs for compounding, but they also had a few very old prescriptions, a pharmacists label printing machine, and an old Danish Pharmacopoeia. It got me thinking... is it possible that our printer from work would be on display in a museum many years from now?
After the Steno Museum we went to ARoS (
http://www.aros.dk/?setlanguage=2), an art museum. Generally I am not a big fan of art museums, but this one was amazing. Of course, the architecture was amazing. The entire building is designed not to guide you from exhibit to exhibit, but to allow you to navigate your way through by making your own decisions. Also, there is not art outside of the exhibits. For example all of the walls as you walk up the stairs are white. This is to help clear your mind as you walk from exhibit to exhibit. It really is a fantastic museum.
A visit to the Skejby Sygehus Hospital was next on our tour. This hospital is public hospital associated with Århus University. Here we had a presentation from the Chief Physician of the the pediatrics department and two medical students. Studying medicine in Denmark is much different then in the States. Besides being subsidized for just being a student, the working conditions for medical students are much better. For example, while they have to do a few later shifts throughout their rotations generally they are not required to work beyond 10pm or more than 8 hours. Because of this, over half of medical students have families. It also helps that the government provides day care, etc. Both of the medical students that presented had children. An interesting contrast to the American system.
The rest of the evening was on our own. Since it was Friday, I explored the shopping opportunities in Århus. My efforts paid off as I bought a wonder pull over which will increase my ability to layer. Yuppie! Dinner was Italian again, however, a different restaurant. Followed by ice cream! Later we all went to a 10kr bar (most of the drinks were 10kr, approx. $2). I really didn't feel comfortable in this very, very heterosexual environment, and left after a short while. It all turned out for the best as I ended up having a wonderful conversation with a fellow student about adjusting to the study abroad experience. Much better than spending an evening at a seedy bar.
Saturday's first stop was Jelling. In this little town there exist two stones - Jelling stones (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelling_stones). These stones are from the viking era -- dated around 950-1000. On one of these stones is written the word Denmark. This is the first time in Danish history that the word Denmark was used. The other stone represents the beginning of Christianity in Denmark. It is also interesting to note that the first King of Denmark lived in this area, and that the current Queen Margrethe is related some 29 generations back.
Egeskov Castle was the next stop. This place was kind of bizarre. Here, I walked among tree tops, saw the ORIGINAL Superman consume, walked through a motorcycle museum, visited Dracula's Crypt, and got lost in a maze. Bizarre really is the only word to describe this place. This was the last stop on our tour. On the way home we had a brief discussion on the bus in which we compared the Danish and American health care systems.
Sorry for such a long post... Unfortunately right now I do not have any pictures. But they will be coming as soon as I get my photos developed. As well as get photos from others on the trip.
Later today I am going to a rowing competition to cheer on my host sister. Then it is homework.
From Copenhagen...
Anna
