Group of American students exchanges in the Bahiana

Exchange experiences and learn from differences. These are some of the goals of an academic exchange. And that is exactly what is happening with students in the last semesters of the Dentistry course who, since September 16, have been hosting a group of nine dentistry students from the University of Maryland, the result of an agreement signed between the American institution and The Bahiana.

Among the activities, “the group is participating in technical visits to internship scenarios, it is performing, together with our students from Bahiana, care for patients, both at the Teaching-Assistance Outpatient Clinic at the Cabula Academic Unit, and at Hospital Roberto Santos, where we carry out the internship”, says Prof. Urbino Tunes, coordinator of the Dentistry course at Bahiana.

The group of exchange students, which will stay in Salvador until September 30, is under the guidance of Prof. Isabel Rambob, a Bahian who teaches at the American institution. “I was here in Bahia last year, participating in the Congress of the Organization of Dentists Teachers and the idea came up to carry out this experience. There at the University of Maryland, students must undertake an internship outside the institution before graduating. This can be in the United States or other countries. This is the first time it has happened in Brazil”, declares Rambob.

“One of the things that most caught my attention was the relationship that students have with teachers and patients. There is more human warmth here, which is very positive,” says 27-year-old American student Kaveh Zand. Another moment that impressed the visitors was a class they attended on the Unified Health System, a Brazilian model of public health, a pioneer in the world.

“I think this experience is very interesting because we learn a lot from differences. Despite the fact that they have a lot of technology, they don't take the same care in detail in patient care”, says the 8th semester student of Dentistry at Bahiana, Pauline Cardoso.

“The exchange is very stimulating and enriching for both groups of students (exchange students and students from the Bahiana), since the educational systems of the two countries are very different, but the integration of dentistry in the world is an increasingly present reality, in which the United States and Brazil have stood out as the largest scientific and technological producers", he declares the teacher of Bahiana Nelson Gnoatto, one of the professors who is hosting the American group.

But, not everything is work. One of the things that most fascinated visitors, besides the infrastructure of the Bahiana, was the Academic Unit's canteen. “We are not used to having food for lunch. It's always a sandwich, a snack. The food here is really good. We don't know what we're going to do when we get back,” says 26-year-old American Shanar Nasserifar.

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