Switzerland and Health Care Systems from Around the World

 Switzerland and Health Care Systems from Around the World By: Alex Smith Gormley

This summer I have the amazing opportunity to be the Assistant Program Director for East Carolina Univerity’s summer study abroad program to Switzerland. This trip is specifically designed for “pre-health” majors, with 20 of the 26 students interested in attending PT school.  We will make official site visits to the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the Red Cross, and University of Geneva hospital, where we will be given a tour of their PT facilities.  We will also explore Swiss history, culture and healthy lifestyles by visiting famous sites.  If you are interested in checking out our tentative schedule, please Click Here.

PART I

For a practicing health care professional, knowledge of best practices and policies, not just from the United States but from around the world, is essential to providing effective care.  It is especially important to explore health care systems from countries that continually rate higher than the United States in health status. The Swiss healthcare system is considered by many to be one of the best in the world. Thus, I wanted to explore health care systems from countries that continually rate higher than the United States in health status, specifically Switzerland, as the Swiss healthcare system is considered by experts to be one of the best in the world. The better informed I am about what works worldwide, the better I can advocate here in the United States. For our Evidence Based II class I developed a research paper to answer the question, “For low-income patients, does a government-mandated universal coverage healthcare system result in a higher quality of life/healthier population compared to the current U.S. system?”. My Evidence Table and Research Paper can be found by clicking the respective links.

PART II

It was my responsility to create an online module for our students that informed them about Swiss geography, culture, history, and health care, specifically physical therapy.  I also helped develop various assignments that correspond to the information I presented in the module, specifically creating the assignments related to health care and physical therapy.  The students will be required to complete the module and assignments approximately 2.5 weeks before we leave on our trip.  I was also responsible for finding relevent healthcare articles and presenting them to the students.  During our time in Switzerland, I will conduct “fireside chats” in which I will lead discussions involving the critical comparisons of the US and Swiss health care systems.  All assignments will be emailed to me.  Please Click to see the Swiss Online Module and Assignments.

Part III 

One of the major learning goals for my Capstone Project was to hone my mentoring skills by guiding and supporting undergraduate pre-professional students.  For me,  “mentor/teacher” is an incredibly important professional role because I strongly feel that the present trains the future.  I am excited and honored that through my Capstone, I can begin this role before I even graduate.  Because of the large amount of prospective PT students traveling with us, I developed a PowerPoint presentation entitled “A Third Year DPT Student Tells All,” which served as an  informative session for the pre-PT participants in the Study Abroad program along with other students at East Carolina University interested in PT.  I created a flyer (seen on the right) and advertised it to our students in the study abroad program, along with students majoring in exercise physiology, pre-health, and public health.  Approximately 40 students attended my hour-long presentation.  I also administered a Prequiz and Postquiz to assess learning and to evaluate my presentation.  Results of these quizzes can be accessed HERE

Thanks so much for visiting my Capstone page! Special thanks to my committee members Dr. Sloane Burke and Mike McCammon for all of their help and support.  Also thanks to my Capstone advisor, Karen McCulloch.  Special thanks also to Lisa Johnston and Jon Hacke for their help with my presentation “A Third Year DPT Student Tells All.” I hope you enjoyed it!