Opening our hearts and minds: the meaning of international clinical nursing electives in the personal and professional lives of nurses.

Although international opportunities are the hallmark of nursing education at a large private university, the meaning of participating in such clinical nursing electives has not been described. The purpose of this phenomenological study of nurses was to examine the personal and professional meaning of participating in international clinical nursing electives during their undergraduate nursing studies. Audiotaped interviews were conducted with 20 former nursing students who had had this opportunity. "Opening our hearts and minds" was described by the study's participants, with the following themes: increasing understanding of other cultures and peoples, increasing understanding of global sociopolitical and health issues, increasing the commitment to make a difference, experiencing personal and professional growth, contributing to professional development in the host country, making interpersonal connexions, and developing cultural competence. This study makes an important contribution to the documentation of the meaning of participating in international nursing clinical experiences. Data are being used for long-term curricular planning in the development and refinement of future international clinical nursing electives and to provide outcomes data for professional accreditation. There are broader implications for the movement beyond individual cultural competence to increasing global consciousness and the improvement of global health care.

Nursing education and service collaboration: making a difference in the clinical learning environment.

This article focuses on innovative collaborative steps that were identified in recent research conducted by these authors on the relationship between academia and service. These steps are currently being implemented in the hope of improving the important role that the clinical environment plays in student nurses' education. Few factors in nursing education are as important as the clinical environment in which students do their training. This article elaborates on these steps and offers practical suggestions for improving the relationship between academia and service.

Staff nurse perceptions of the contributions of students to clinical agencies.

This study is a replication and extension of Grindel and associates' 2001 study of the perceptions of staff nurses (psychiatric, perinatal, and medical/surgical) regarding the benefits of having students from a baccalaureate nursing program work in clinical agencies. Using the Nursing Students' Contributions to Clinical Agencies tool, the overall perception of students' contributions ranged from -4 to +5, with a mean of 2.50. The two highest ranked items were "allows opportunities for mentoring" and "threatens professional role development," indicating the ambivalence staff nurses feel toward nursing students. Qualitative data also demonstrated the benefits and challenges of working with students. Recommendations are made for the creation of a positive, nurturing learning environment through closer collaboration between nursing education and service.