Identifying priority recruitment strategies for public health students will enhance the ability of public health leaders to recruit graduate registered nurses to public health. Faculty should continue to evaluate both clinical and classroom experiences to stimulate excitement and interest for public health as a career choice.

With diversity increasing in the United States, educators are struggling to find the most effective methods to prepare nursing students to care for diverse populations. This study's purpose was to determine the impact of immersion experiences and cultural classes on nursing students' transcultural competence. A pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental design was used. Nursing students completing a 2-week to 3-week immersion experience (n = 14) completed the Transcultural Self-Efficacy Tool online 1 week prior to and immediately following an immersion experience. The control group (n = 25), who were students not participating in an immersion experience, completed the instrument during the same time frame. Students who participated in an immersion experience had significantly higher posttest transcultural self-efficacy scores (p < 0.001). Compared with the control group, the students in the immersion group had significantly higher change scores (p < 0.001). In addition, the number of culture classes completed was not correlated with transcultural self-efficacy scores. Recommendations included encouraging student participation in immersion experiences to enhance transcultural competence.

The need to integrate clinical practice and research has been stressed for many years in both public health and nursing. This article describes such a collaborative project between two rural upper Midwest public health nursing agencies and public health nursing faculty from a small, liberal arts, baccalaureate nursing program. The high-risk prenatal research project provided an opportunity for nursing staff and faculty research consultants to work together on a clinical study. A model for collaborative research is illustrated, and advantages and disadvantages for practice, administration, and research are discussed.