What impact did a student exchange have on participating nurses in the longer term?

Abstract

Results:The nurses described a process in which the exchange helped them develop personal qualities and cultural competence and increased their awareness of how they communicated. In the interviews, the nurses relived situations from their clinical placement in the 'here and now'. Although the nurses found it di cult to de ne the learning outcomes from the exchange, they indicated that they had learned a great deal. Several of them highlighted how they tried to understand ethnic minority patients and their families and to be understood. Discussion:The nurses said that the exchange had strengthened their personal and professional development, and continues to do so. Meeting people from a di erent cultural background to their own in a foreign and unfamiliar culture over a period of time reinforced this e ect as the nurses had to nd new ways to mobilise their personal and professional resources. Conclusion:The exchange had a lasting impact on the nurses' personal awareness, professional development and competence development. Meeting people in di erent situations over a period of time in an unfamiliar culture also helped to strengthen their cultural competence. The nurses found that cultural competence is important for practising nursing in a multicultural society, and that it is di cult to obtain this competence in clinical placements in Norway. However, more research is needed into nurses' experiences from student exchanges, where the focus is on the impact of the exchange on their professional practice. Student exchanges over a certain time period are one of the most e ective ways of developing cultural competence. Students who live in a di erent culture for a period are 'strangers', and this gives them the opportunity to see how cultures di er (1-4).Although more research is needed on the learning outcomes of exchanges, studies show that exchanges contribute to personal, professional and cognitive development in the form of strengthened cultural sensitivity and competence (5-7). Report no. 7 to the Storting (2020-2021) (8) follows up Report no. 16 to the Storting (2016-2017) (9) by emphasising that all students should gain international experience as part of their education, and that student mobility in higher education should be increased.

Beyond challenges and enrichment: a qualitative account of cross-cultural experiences of nursing ethnic minority patients in Norway

“…The participant nurses who were from a cultural or ethnically diverse background other than Norwegian, had worked in another country, or had been in a student exchange program tended to display higher levels of cross-cultural sensitivity and were more likely to express positive outcomes and cultural sensitivity than the other participants. These ndings are similar to those of several other studies and show the importance of implementing exchange programs in nursing education [6,51,53,54].…”

“…Our results show that encounters with cultural diversity create some obvious challenges in time management, but it can also offer opportunities for self-re ection and enrichment [50]. These encounters create a kind of diversityrelated sensitivity and teach skills for introspection and values such as humility, patience, and humbleness [51].…”

Beyond challenges and enrichment: a qualitative account of cross-cultural experiences of nursing patients with an ethnic minority background in Norway

“…The participant nurses who were from a cultural or ethnically diverse background other than Norwegian, had worked in another country, or had been in a student exchange program tended to display higher levels of cross-cultural sensitivity and were more likely to express positive outcomes and cultural sensitivity than the other participants. These findings are similar to those of several other studies and illustrate the importance of implementing exchange programs in nursing education [ 5 , 70 – 72 ].…”