Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to discuss how to identify a global partnership opportunity.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to describe the Delaware-Australia nursing student partnership.
Method: This project takes students on a global experience of community service learning in Cairns, Australia. They work with aboriginal people through a partnership with the Base Hospital to complete a population assessment of needs and implement a health promotion project based on these assessed needs. The short-term goals of this project are: (1) to assess the healthcare needs of the aboriginal people to formulate a community health promotion project and (2) to examine community coalition-building and healthcare beliefs and practices from a global perspective. The Base Hospital hosts aboriginal nurse presentations, research discussions, and offers clinical shadowing experiences for students to gain first-hand knowledge.
Results: Students returning from the experience present their findings on the population to foster an understanding of differences in health beliefs and practices, as well as health problems. This adds a wealth of rich information to our coursework and gives all students a more global perspective of health and healthcare beliefs.