Title : Expanding the world: Public & global health experiences for undergraduate nursing students
Abstract:
Nurse educators have the challenge of training future nurses that will provide compassionate care to an increasingly diverse population of patients in a culturally sensitive way. It is in the interest of educators, current nurses, healthcare team members, and patients to find innovative ways to cultivate cultural awareness in these future nurses. One approach to this challenge is an immersive public and global health experience as part of the nursing program curriculum. Undergraduate nursing students at our institution are required to participate in a Public and Global Health course. They participate in a didactic preparatory course followed by a 3-to-4-week program in one the following locations: The Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland/Poland, Ghana, India, Spain, Taiwan, Tonga, an Honor Flight to Washington D.C. with Veterans, or in local (Utah) communities working with marginalized populations (including incarcerated individuals, refugees, etc). The students are required to complete 84 clinical hours and 84 culture hours (which involve exposure to local history, art, architecture, customs, etc). As Faculty, we feel strongly that these public and global health experiences help cultivate cultural awareness in our students and prepare nurses who are better prepared to serve a diverse population of patients throughout their careers. This presentation will highlight our experiences and provide ideas for other nurse educators who have an interest in developing similar programs in their schools but do not know where to start. Suggestions about how to start building relationships that can lead to these opportunities along with logistics for continuing the programs will be highlighted. In alignment with the goals of the conference, insights about healthcare delivery systems in global health and current trends in nursing practice around the world will also be shared.
