Saturday, 29 October 2011: 3:35 PM
Barbara R. McClaskey, PhD, RNC
Nursing, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS
Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to describe a brief transcultural experience that has successfully been implemented each of the previous ten years.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able verbalize outcomes and benefits of a brief transcultural experience for a group of nursing students.
The population in the United States is projected to continue to become increasingly diverse. Considering the diversity throughout many countries, including the United States, nurses need to as prepared as possible to provide culturally sensitive and competent care. Another factor reinforcing the need for nurses to be prepared to provide culturally appropriate care is mobility as they may provide care in a variety of cultural settings. The purpose of this presentation is to present a summary of ten years of nursing student experiences in a hospital in Mexico. The students were from Pittsburg State University, a university in the midwest United States. The setting for the experience was Hospital de la Familia located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The hospital serves the poor living near the northern Mexico border. Students observed and assisted on the following units: labor/delivery, pediatrics, nursery, postpartum, outpatient area and emergency care. The experience is a collaborative project with the nursing and medical staff of Hospital de la Familia being very supportive of the educational opportunity for the U.S. students.
Over the past ten years, more than 100 students have participated in the experience. Summary data will be provided regarding student impressions recorded in journals. In addition, comparison data on the pre- and post-experience responses on a survey of cultural knowledge and attitudes will be reported. Outcomes included increased knowledge of health and nursing in another culture, increased empathy for clients seeking care in an environment in which they do not speak the language, and increased understanding of the importance of culturally respectful care. This transcultural experience has been beneficial to the students based on their evaluations and the hospital has encouraged the students to return as often as possible.
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