The conference clinical site visit objectives and guidelines were developed collaboratively by US and Russian nurses and were given to the nursing staff at the selected Russian facilities prior to our site visit. This allowed the staff, time to gather the information that we requested and prepare a presentation about nursing within their facility.
Each site visit began with an overview of the facility including such information as the specialty of facility, types and numbers of patients, continuing education available for nurses, and nursing administrative structure. The group was then divided up into smaller groups of 5 or 6 people to tour the nursing units and meet the nursing staff. The nurses discussed their specific roles and issues related to nursing. The site visits concluded with a nurse presenting a patient in a small group and discussing the role of the nurse in caring for this patient. This provided the US nurses with a more personal perspective of how nursing is practiced in various setting in Russia.
The clinical site visit objectives and guidelines have provided structure to our visits and have helped participants gain a better understanding of the nursing role in Russia. Knowledge of the role of the nurse is essential for collaboration, education, research on international nursing issues.