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Back to Belize: Nursing Students Make Connections across Borders through Servant Leadership

Monday, 18 November 2013

Tauna Fleming Gulley, PhD, RN, FNP
The University of Virginia's College at Wise, Wise, VA

Learning Objective 1: 1.The learner will describe servant leadership and recognize the importance of this model for leadership development in nursing.

Learning Objective 2: 2.The learner will identify successful leadership strategies they can apply when providing transcultural care to vulnerable populations.

Nursing students at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise have been traveling to Body and Soul Ministries of Belize, Central America during Spring Break for the past four years to provide care to residents of a rural community. Care was provided in a variety of settings including churches, schools and remote villages. This experience has provided valuable opportunities for students and faculty to develop and demonstrate leadership characteristics in nontraditional practice settings. Although there are numerous leadership theories throughout the nursing literature, the servant leadership model has provided a successful approach for communication, the provision of care and health promotion education for the culturally diverse population served.

Objectives:

  1. The learner will describe servant leadership and recognize the importance of this model for leadership development in nursing education.  
  2. The learner will identify successful leadership strategies they can apply when providing transcultural care to vulnerable populations.

The servant leadership model embraces the characteristic of trust, the ability to listen, to feel empathy, to love others and commit to the growth of individuals and the community.  Servant leaders (nurses) focus on the needs of followers (patients, families). In order to provide cross-cultural care, nurses must recognize the importance of cultural differences of the population served. Therefore, the servant leadership model is ideal for nurses who provide care to individuals with various cultural backgrounds.

Servant leadership principles can be learned. The motivation to serve others is an essential component of servant leadership. Individuals who participated in this experience expressed a strong desire to serve and care for others. By choosing to serve, many individuals found this global experience was the beginning of their journey to becoming a leader. A leader who is committed to promoting the health of individuals, families and communities worldwide.

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