Nursing students and faculty from the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, a private university in Madrid, Spain, are in Miami this June to complete an observership program hosted by the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies. The month-long program features activities at the school’s 41,000-square-foot S.H.A.R.E. Simulation Hospital Advancing Research & Education® and various departments within UHealth — the University of Miami Health System, giving participants invaluable clinical and cultural insights into health care practices and workflows beyond their own country.
“This initiative is part of a growing student exchange collaboration between the two institutions,” said Dr. Johis Ortega, associate dean for Hemispheric and Global Initiatives at the School of Nursing and Health Studies. “The curriculum is designed to foster cross-cultural understanding and expand educational experiences in the health sciences.”
The six students and two faculty members from Universidad Francisco de Vitoria spent their first week in Miami viewing clinical activities in several departments of UHealth’s Lennar Foundation Medical Center in Coral Gables, including pre-operative (PreOp), post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), gastroenterology (GI), radiation oncology, and the multispecialty clinic.
During the second phase of their observership, the group engaged in simulation-based education at S.H.A.R.E., focusing on maternal health, obstetrics and gynecology, fetal monitoring, and advanced simulation technologies used in medical training. The activities gave students a controlled, realistic setting in which to practice clinical reasoning and teamwork skills on high-fidelity manikins. “The school is great,” said third-year UFV nursing student Maria Martin Reyes as she displayed her certificate of completion for the accelerated immersive simulation experience.
The final two weeks of the exchange take place at UHealth Tower, the University of Miami Health System’s flagship hospital, where the students will rotate through interventional radiology (IR), the operating room (OR), PACU, non-invasive cardiology, GI, and other departments, observing inpatient care and learning about the complexities of hospital operations in a U.S. tertiary care setting.
The inter-institutional academic health care initiative is part of a growing collaboration between the two institutions. A reciprocal visit hosted by Universidad Francisco de Vitoria took place in May, with 10 University of Miami students spending two weeks in Spain and Romania, observing clinical activities in private and public health care settings of both nations and learning first-hand about their respective health care systems. “The shared goal of these exchanges is to broaden students' clinical perspectives, enhance global health competencies, and build lasting academic partnerships between the two universities,” said Dr. Ortega.
