The Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers teaching and/or research opportunities in the form of monetary awards for American faculty and professionals in varied academic and professional fields including medicine, nursing and public health. The Fulbright Program, an international educational exchange program sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) government, aims to increase interchange between Americans and members of other countries. The Fulbright provides select nursing faculty opportunities to engage in research and teaching opportunities as well as a means to exchange ideas, introduce new pedagogies to improve nursing education and clinical practice. Fulbright scholars and faculty researchers can also serve as consultants to host communities in areas of their expertise, such as policy making, curriculum development and nursing practice.
Methods: The field work for this project was Fall and Spring semester, based at Bethlehem University (BU) in Bethlehem, and included visits to Augusta Victoria Hospital (Jerusalem), University of Jordan (Amman), Jordan University of Science and Technology (Irbid). Research methodology was based on the Observation-Participation-Reflection model, an ethnographic approach (Polit & Beck, 2012).
Results: Benefit of Collaboration with nursing faculty and nursing students globally and creating international partnership in research and sharing resources in teaching and learning. Share with colleagues and students at home institution and the nursing community about the host country culture, religion, history, people and nursing practices
Conclusion: Nursing Education: Enrich the curriculum by exposing the nursing students learning about nursing and nursing education from a global perspective.
Nursing Research: Contribute to the nursing literature on benefits of nursing faculty as Fulbright Scholars and encourages nursing faculty to apply for a Fulbright Scholar Award.
Practice Relevance: Compare and contrast nursing practices globally. Nursing faculty may bring global nursing practices and education perspectives into the classroom.