The collaborative relationship was developed following several on-site visits and focused on educational and clinical experiences. Goals of the collaboration are to increase the number of professional nurses in Haiti, empower the local health providers, and support the improvement of health outcomes.
Resources unavailable locally are transported as requested, for example supplies for dissection during anatomy labs. Mannequins from the IWU nursing simulation laboratory were donated and transported to the new nursing program per request of the Haitian nursing school.
Nurse educators from IWU provide lectures during each visit to La Gonave. Doctoral students from IWU gain global healthcare experiences, teaching opportunities and develop training sessions for traditional birth attendants. Haitian nursing students gain English skills, study transcultural nursing, and translate for IWU sophomore semester aboard students. Students develop friendships, study together, and learn from each other. The richness of the experiences is invaluable for all students.
DeSanti’s counterpart concepts were used to evaluate the collaborative partnership (George & Meadows-Oliver, 2013). The partnership supports visiting professors, works to develop capacity of local nurses/nursing students, examines cultural and economic factors, and ascertains that all participants are full partners. The partnership is relatively new but the goal is for long-term involvement. Future goals include interprofessional research projects, conducting community needs assessments, and leadership development activities for future nurse educators.