Abstract

When meeting a challenge, nursing educators produce innovative ways of transferring knowledge in their home environments. Originality is especially unique when the challenges of providing quality care are examined from a resource limited and global perspective. Searching for optimal methods of implementing knowledge transfer and facilitating the development of future nurse leaders, an approach was selected to promote local initiatives aligned with increasingly decentralized educational structures. This abstract presents the developing partnerships formed between nursing faculty and students in the United States and Cameroon, West Africa. The educational innovation was predicated on a need identified by the Cameroonian students. The need was then translated into formats and activities to facilitate leadership skills based on the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) model. As the primary focus on the intervention, American trainers used a variety of methods to transfer knowledge regarding HIV in obstetric populations, including static models, traditional textbooks, and preloaded iTouch PDAs to share content to small groups of Cameroonian nursing students. All of the teaching resources were gifted to the Cameroonian nursing school. TTT has the dual benefit of reaching large audiences and permitting forward sustainability such that the Cameroonian students can become trainers for subsequent cohorts of peers. A secondary intent of the intervention was the creation of an environment that empowers and engages students from both countries. It is the anticipation of this program that both the American trainers and the Cameroonian students will feel the synergistic benefit of a peer educational relationship. The program evaluated the improved comprehension and confidence gained in the subject matter having delivered the information to nursing peers. The final intent of the program was the initiation of sustainable, collaborative relationships between the faculty members of the two educational organizations. Qualitative and quantitative measures of evaluation were collected throughout the program.

Description

41st Biennial Convention - 29 October-2 November 2011. Theme: People and Knowledge: Connecting for Global Health. Held at the Gaylord Texan Resort & convention Center.

Author Details

Holly J. Diesel, PhD, RN; Patrick Ercole MPH; Neal Rosenburg PhD, RN; Donna Taliaferro RN, PhD

Sigma Membership

Unknown

Type

Presentation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Nursing Students, Leadership, International

Conference Name

41st Biennial Convention

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Grapevine, Texas, USA

Conference Year

2011

Rights Holder

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Acquisition

Proxy-submission

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Promoting the international transfer of nursing knowledge: The early planning stage

Grapevine, Texas, USA

When meeting a challenge, nursing educators produce innovative ways of transferring knowledge in their home environments. Originality is especially unique when the challenges of providing quality care are examined from a resource limited and global perspective. Searching for optimal methods of implementing knowledge transfer and facilitating the development of future nurse leaders, an approach was selected to promote local initiatives aligned with increasingly decentralized educational structures. This abstract presents the developing partnerships formed between nursing faculty and students in the United States and Cameroon, West Africa. The educational innovation was predicated on a need identified by the Cameroonian students. The need was then translated into formats and activities to facilitate leadership skills based on the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) model. As the primary focus on the intervention, American trainers used a variety of methods to transfer knowledge regarding HIV in obstetric populations, including static models, traditional textbooks, and preloaded iTouch PDAs to share content to small groups of Cameroonian nursing students. All of the teaching resources were gifted to the Cameroonian nursing school. TTT has the dual benefit of reaching large audiences and permitting forward sustainability such that the Cameroonian students can become trainers for subsequent cohorts of peers. A secondary intent of the intervention was the creation of an environment that empowers and engages students from both countries. It is the anticipation of this program that both the American trainers and the Cameroonian students will feel the synergistic benefit of a peer educational relationship. The program evaluated the improved comprehension and confidence gained in the subject matter having delivered the information to nursing peers. The final intent of the program was the initiation of sustainable, collaborative relationships between the faculty members of the two educational organizations. Qualitative and quantitative measures of evaluation were collected throughout the program.