Nursing students abroad: Understanding global health through partnership in Australia

Abstract

<p><strong>Problem:</strong> Community health experiences do not always facilitate student recognition of responsibility to the community and society at large when their view of the world has not been challenged. Many of our students have little experience outside of the Middle Atlantic region of the United States, and even fewer have traveled outside of the United States. To challenge this view, students are taken abroad to examine global health.</p> <p><strong>Method:</strong> This project takes students on a global experience of community service learning in Cairns, Australia. They work with aboriginal people through a partnership with the Base Hospital to complete a population assessment of needs and implement a health promotion project based on these assessed needs. The short-term goals of this project are: (1) to assess the healthcare needs of the aboriginal people to formulate a community health promotion project and (2) to examine community coalition-building and healthcare beliefs and practices from a global perspective. The Base Hospital hosts aboriginal nurse presentations, research discussions, and offers clinical shadowing experiences for students to gain first-hand knowledge.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> Students returning from the experience present their findings on the population to foster an understanding of differences in health beliefs and practices, as well as health problems. This adds a wealth of rich information to our coursework and gives all students a more global perspective of health and healthcare beliefs.</p>