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Impacting Nursing Education with International Collaboration: Bridging Cultural Experiences of Health Promotion in the Online Environment

Tuesday, November 3, 2009: 1:15 PM

Kimberly A. Williams
Community Mental Health Nursing, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL
Samar Noureddine, PhD, RN
School of Nursing, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Hamra, Lebanon

Presentation File (PDF Format)

Learning Objective 1: Describe one action for advancement of nursing education through an on-line environment using the development of partnerships with international universities and enhance a global environment.

Learning Objective 2: Verbalize 2 steps involved in developing an on-line course to create an environment for culturally sensitive practice for psychiatric nursing care.

Background: Rapid globalization has lead to an increased cross-cultural migration for many countries.  This migration has resulted in a greater need for nursing education to include not only cultural education but also experiences.  It has been suggest that creative educational approaches are needed to prepare nurses to care for the diverse needs of patients from different cultural backgrounds.  Such innovation will help achieve cultural competency necessary for providing optimal individualized care. 
Problem:  Cultural experiences in the educational forum are limited due to cost of travel and time.

Methods: A forum for cultural exchange involved the use of the on-line environment of an existing course for health promotion.  Collaboration was initiated with the University of South Alabama (USA) College of Nursing in Mobile, Alabama and the American University of Beirut (AUB) School of Nursing in Beirut, Lebanon.  Students from AUB School of Nursing were given access to the USA College of Nursing on-line course at no cost.  This allowed for advanced practice nursing students to participate in an on-line threaded discussion focusing on the cultural aspects of healthcare in their country.    

Findings: The on-line environment provided a successful cultural exchange of experiences with advanced practiced nursing students.

Future Implications: Increase usage of on-line platforms for cultural exchanges with universities in multiple countries will lead to better health care outcomes when caring for a culturally diverse patient population.  Studies should be aimed at measuring levels of cultural competency within the on-line experience.

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