International nursing faculty exchange model: a Chile-USA case

Evaluation of an international program for nurse practitioner students

BACKGROUND

There are few opportunities for nurse practitioner (NP) students to develop relationships and exchange ideas with international counterparts. In addition, discovering differences in instructional pedagogy between programs is beneficial for every student.

PURPOSE

To facilitate an international understanding of health care services and compare curricula of advanced practice programs through an international experience for first year NP students from the United Kingdom and the United States.

METHODOLOGICAL ORIENTATION

The study used a qualitative analysis of responses from specified questions provided to both cohorts of students before and after the experience.

SAMPLE

A virtual global exchange between 23 advanced practice students and their professors in the spring of 2018 culminated in a trip by the UK students and faculty to the United States in April of that year.

CONCLUSIONS

The UK and US NP students positively evaluated the international encounter and pointed out specific educational activities that were most helpful to their training.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

International experiences offer NP students the opportunity to experience health care delivery in an alternative cultural milieu.

Lecturers' experiences of participating in an international exchange

Globalization is a trend in higher education and is judged to be essential to quality; however, there is a lack of publications on the outcome of lecturers' exchange. The aim of this study was to describe lecturers' experiences of participating in an international exchange. Twenty-six lecturers who had taken part in an exchange were invited to participate through writing a narrative. Data was analyzed with a qualitative method, and five categories emerged: Preparation and timing, challenges in teaching, demanding but worthwhile, broadening perspective and expanding network. The overall result showed that participating lecturers judged their international exchange to be a positive experience that had resulted in personal as well as professional development. However, a successful exchange requires planning, support and an open mind from all involved lecturers and institutions.

International medical school faculty development: the results of a needs assessment survey among medical educators in China

To explore the need for faculty development among Chinese medical educators. Leaders at each medical school in China were asked to complete a 123-item survey to identify interest in various topics and barriers and perceived benefits of participating in faculty development programs. Interest levels were high for all topics. Experience with Hospital Management and Research positively correlated with interest in learning more (p < 0.001). Ninety-two percent believe that international experiences are very or extremely important to medical educators' career advancement. Chinese medical education faculty members have a strong interest in faculty development programs.

International Nursing Exchange Programs

International nursing programs provide a venue for nurses from many countries to have a dialogue about nursing practice, education, and research. This article provides an overview of a comprehensive international nursing program at a large academic medical center. Two aspects of the international nursing program are addressed: hosting international nurse visitors and facilitating visits of U.S. nurses abroad. The history, objectives, selection of participants, and design of the program are described. A retrospective review of outcomes of the international program is provided based on feedback from participants.

Exploring Nursing Roles Across North American Borders

Professional nurses are challenged by the increasing complexity of their own healthcare delivery systems and by the growing interconnectivity of healthcare systems worldwide. There are increasing calls for practice across boundaries; however, the role and scope of nursing practice within individual countries are often unclear, ill-defined, and misunderstood by nurses from other countries. In this collaborative educational project among six schools of nursing located in Canada, México, and the United States, nursing students and faculty are exploring the role of the nurse within each country's healthcare system while striving to develop their multicultural awareness. Participating faculty describe the process, challenges, and keys to success found in creating and living this international project. They share strategies for addressing challenges, which included meeting deadlines, time differences, differing academic schedules, writing joint documents in two languages, designing and presenting a shared course, and creating an exchange process between the six partner schools. They describe the evolution of their working relationships, the language challenges, and the joy of coming together as newfound colleagues and friends.

Finnish students' perceptions of a visiting professor

Although nurse educators enthusiastically endorse visiting professors, cross-school collaboration, cross-cultural teaching, and international faculty exchange programs, no previous studies have documented students' perceptions of visiting faculty. An open-ended questionnaire was used to identify Finnish students' perceptions of a visiting Fulbright professor and how faculty and students can better prepare for educational exchanges. Four themes emerged from the content analysis of responses to the questionnaire: course content, teaching methods, the role of the teacher, and expectations and developmental challenges. Generally, students were satisfied with the course content and teaching methods. They indicated that it was important that the teacher was encouraging and positive and challenged them to speak up in class. Students commented that the visiting professor should perhaps have been more knowledgeable about and therefore able to make applications to Finnish culture, education, and the health care system. Others noted that it was helpful to learn about the American health care system and then to make applications to Finnish culture themselves. Overall, the findings of this project support continuation of visiting professors and continued research on methods of increasing visiting faculty program effectiveness.