Title: Nurse learners engagement with community development has influenced the professional practice of nurse graduates
Abstract:
The changing global landscape demands nurse educators adjust their thinking to create innovative ways to address community health, education and sustainability for the education of undergraduate nurse learners. This presentation focuses on global community health and the impact of engaging with an undergraduate nursing curriculum based at School of Nursing at Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand in support of this claim. Global interconnectivity, changing demographics and the mobility of the work force has seen a greater need for nurse graduates to be work ready regarding global citizenship. If this is the case, then there is a need to develop a pedagogy to fully immerse learners in cross cultural context of learning while providing a learning and teaching model for the nursing tertiary education sector. A qualitative design has been engaged with to investigate the collaboration between third year undergraduate nurse learners and community stakeholders positioned globally in geographically rural communities. Third year undergraduate nurse learners completing their community health care clinical placement were assigned to practice with the community of Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire, UK and Liro, Paama, Vanuatu, Pacific during a global pandemic. In the process there was a lateral shift for engagement and rapid movement into a virtual space. Adaptation and resilience by nurse learners, the community and facilitators of traditional teaching and learning models demonstrates a commitment to sustainable and ethical global engagement undertaken within International Service-Learning opportunities. Planning, developing, and designing the teaching and learning aspect of engagement as well as community stakeholder expectations during this inquiry has been explored. The aim has been to capture this experience which in turn has further informed teaching and learning practice to create compassionate, responsive, and prepared nurse graduates to extend their context of practice from local to global delivery of health care. Enhancing learning, health promotion that is specific to population needs, and inclusive design through the “living lab” engagement is detailed and discussed. Multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are connected to this work and the most hopeful of these is how this work can strive to find creative ways in which to achieve Goal 17 Partnerships for the Goals. Partnership requires shared vision and collaboration to develop successful agendas globally, nationally, regionally, and locally. This shared vision between the School of Nursing, Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin and the communities we partner with around health and find solutions that work, is a prime example of ways in which grass root projects are contributing to the shifting global paradigm that incorporates health and wellbeing for all. Further, this study will share the dynamic reflections from invited graduate nurses on whether engaging with these community development projects at an undergraduate level has any influence on their current professional practice.
Audience Take Away:
This presentation will stimulate ongoing research to provide new information to assist in the provision and global and community health care internationally.
- This presentation will stimulate ongoing discussion for the provision of teaching and learning pedagogy within nursing education.
- Nurses are change agents, their response to local contexts is paramount and this presentation with enhance their contributions.
- Rural nurses are connected to their geographical context which shapes their practice and community health.
- This presentation will help the audience reflect on their job and the clients they care for and reflect on making a difference.
- This research could offer other faculties an approach in which to expand their research or teaching.
- Audience will be able to:
- Reflect on current practice.
- Reflect on teaching undergraduate nursing students.
- Contribute to global nursing, sustainable health care and reduce health disparities.
