Monday, 30 October 2017
There is increasing need for nurses to demonstrate global health competencies that address population level health and disparities beyond practicing borders. Recent data indicates that nurses are key components to global health in policy, research, and healthcare delivery arenas. Baccalaureate prepared nurses are uniquely positioned to significantly impact the health outcomes of diverse populations worldwide. Several nursing organizations including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, The American Nurses Association (ANA), International Council of Nurses (ICN) and Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing (STTI) have recommended practice guidelines for nurses caring for local and global communities. In an effort to embrace the dynamic capabilities and global influence of the profession of nursing, faculty at one Historically Black College and University’s (HBCU) RN-BSN program designed and instituted delivery of an online global health nursing course into its curriculum. A recent evaluation of course learning outcomes indicated students had limited opportunities to demonstrate competency in planning nursing care for populations within a global health context. This lack of opportunity was paralleled with students overwhelming desire to have such a skill. With this knowledge in hand, full-time and adjunct faculty collectively reviewed and revised the course to include assignments that would result in the ability to operationalize nursing at a global level. A key revision was the inclusion of a global health nursing action project. Designed to promote competence at an application level, the project calls for students to develop population-level interventions using global health action concepts within a nursing framework. This poster session will describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of the global health nursing action project and explore course enhancements that promoted professional identity and application of basic global health competencies in RN-BSN students enrolled at a HBCU. Information concerning this educational innovation can inform nurse faculty on strategies that may enhance the level of global health competency and professional global identity in baccalaureate completion programs.