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Background: In 2008, the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission stated in baccalaureate nursing education standards that the curriculum should include “cultural, ethnic, and socially diverse concepts in the nursing curriculum and may also include experiences from regional, national, or global perspectives” (NLNAC). To achieve this, nursing education at BYU includes completion of a required global health course, “to provide students an opportunity to become more culturally competent and assist them in understanding how culture impacts the health of a person, family and community” (GHIS).
Methods: One section of students and faculty participate in a four week global and cultural immersion course in southern India. In collaboration with a non-government organization, students work with leprosy-afflicted patients and their children. Clinical experiences include wound care, immunization clinics, health screenings and patient education in a variety of rural settings including a remote tribal villages and a boarding school. In addition to the nursing activities, students and faculty participate in cultural activities.
Results: This site provides many unique and insightful experiences to achieve both NLN and BYU goals. Student insights describe life changing cultural attitudes as result of providing nursing care in a developing country. Faculty gained many insights from developing and maintaining this study abroad program.
Conclusion: This study abroad program has been successful in education of students in cultural, ethnic, and socially diverse concepts, as well as providing opportunities to increase cultural competence.
NLNAC 2008 Standards and Criteria. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2012, http://nlnac.org/manuals/SC2008_BACCALAUREATE.pdf
Global Health and International Studies. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2012 fromhttp://nursing.byu.edu/global/default.aspx