Transatlantic Nursing Education: Developing Intercultural Competence in a Multicultural Workforce

Donna S. Blackburn, PhD, RN¹, Mary Jo Gilmer, PhD, RN², Linda Norman, DSN, MSN, RN², Joan Mcgill, DSN, RN³, Iain Graham, RN, RMN, PhD, MEd, MSc, BSc⁴, Eva Bergknut, MSN, RN⁵, and Liisa Koskinen, PhD, RN⁶. (1) Department of Nursing, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, KY, USA, (2) School of Nursing, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA, (3) Vail Program of Nursing, Queens University, Charlotte, NC, USA, (4) Institute of Health and Community Studies, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, Dorset, England, (5) Department of Health and Caring Services, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, (6) School of Social and Health Professonials, Pohjois-Savo Polytechnic University, Kuopio, Finland

"Introduction:" As a result of a global nursing shortage and international recruitment of nurses, workforces are becoming more ethnically diverse. Subsequently, challenges arise when healthcare teams are comprised of professionals who have been educated in different countries with different healthcare practices, educational systems and role expectations. The major focus within nursing has been the interaction between the nurse and client from different cultural backgrounds. Much less emphasis has been placed on the nurse-nurse relationship when cultural differences exist.

"Objective:" The purpose of this study is to assess nursing students' intercultural competence when working with nurse partners from different cultural backgrounds.

"Population, sample, setting, years:" Twenty-four (24) nursing students participated in a transatlantic exchange among six (6) Universities. Specifically, students participated in one of three U.S.-European exchanges, which ranged in length from 4 to 12 weeks.

"Conceptual framework:" An intercultural sensitivity model developed by Bennett (1993) based on a continuum from ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism served as the conceptual framework for this study.

"Methods:" Data were collected as part of the educational requirements for student exchanges and included 3 sources of data: reflective journals, critical incidence analysis narratives and responses to questions given to students during a de-briefing session at the end of the exchange. Content analysis was used to summarize and compare the data.

"Findings:" Analysis of the data revealed a transition from ethnocentric to ethnorelative stages by the end of the exchange visits. Students initially expressed feelings indicative of denial, defense and minimization. However, by the end of the exchange, reflective journals and narratives reflected acceptance, adaptation and integration into another culture.

"Conclusions:" The results of this study demonstrate the value of an international nursing student exchange as a strategy to promote intercultural competence.

Learning Objective #1: Identify the stages of Bennett's developmental model of intercultural sensitivity
Learning Objective #2: Describe students' experiences of working with nurse partners from different cultural backgrounds