Exploring nursing roles across North American borders

• Published in: The Journal of continuing education in nursing Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 153 - 162
• Main Authors: Kuehn, Alice F, Chircop, Andrea, Downe-Wamboldt, Barbara, Sheppard-LeMoine, Debbie, Murnaghan, Donna, Elliott, Judy, Critchley, Kim, MacNaughton, Neil S, Méndez, Lourdes, Wittstock, Lucille, Ramírez, Guadalupe, Arteaga, Sabrina, Espinoza, Silvia, Herbert, Rosemary, Judge-Ellis, Tess, Cárdenas, Velia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States SLACK INCORPORATED 01.07.2005
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitude to Health - ethnology; Canada; Clinical medicine; Communication Barriers; Cooperative Behavior; Cooperative Learning; Cultural Awareness; Cultural Diversity; Delivery Systems; Education; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate - organization & administration; Faculty, Nursing - organization & administration; Health care access; Health care policy; Health facilities; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Services; Humans; Individualized Instruction; International Educational Exchange; Learning; Mexico; Nurse's Role; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing Education; Nursing Education Research; Nursing Students; Politics of Education; Professional Autonomy; Program Development; Program Evaluation; Public Health; Schools, Nursing - organization & administration; Secondary Education; Students; Students, Nursing - psychology; Transcultural Nursing - education; Transcultural Nursing - organization & administration; United States; Canada; United States; Mexico; United States > US
• ISSN: 0022-0124; 1938-2472
• DOI: 10.3928/0022-0124-20050701-06

Professional nurses are challenged by the increasing complexity of their own healthcare delivery systems and by the growing interconnectivity of healthcare systems worldwide. There are increasing calls for practice across boundaries; however, the role and scope of nursing practice within individual countries are often unclear, ill-defined, and misunderstood by nurses from other countries. In this collaborative educational project among six schools of nursing located in Canada, México, and the United States, nursing students and faculty are exploring the role of the nurse within each country's healthcare system while striving to develop their multicultural awareness. Participating faculty describe the process, challenges, and keys to success found in creating and living this international project. They share strategies for addressing challenges, which included meeting deadlines, time differences, differing academic schedules, writing joint documents in two languages, designing and presenting a shared course, and creating an exchange process between the six partner schools. They describe the evolution of their working relationships, the language challenges, and the joy of coming together as newfound colleagues and friends.