International partnership in nursing education: The impact of the international nursing visitor program (INVP) model

Backgrounds Globalization is the trend for nursing education. This presentation describes the development, implementation, and first year outcome evaluation of the INVP.

Methods A logic model was developed by planning committee for the purpose of program planning, implementation, and evaluation. A quantitative method was used to assess the effectiveness of program implementation and qualitative data were obtained to describe their learning experiences and identify changes that needed to be made at the end of program.

Results The INVP planning committee was established by representatives from both universities and the planning committee communicated regularly on the phone conference and a collective vision for the INVP was also created during the meetings. To reach the objectives of the program, 10 senior Taiwanese students were exposed in different learning experiences including in in-class learning, health care delivery site visits, simulation lab, and cultural exploration. Quantitative evaluation results indicated that students and faculty ranked “excellent” on each learning activity. There were two themes and six categories emerged from student's interview. They were: A. Learning Achievement (a)growth of nursing professional experience (b); increasing language proficiency; (c)engaging into multi-cultural background; (d) self-identity reconstruction, B. Learning Predicament, (a) unpredictable anxiety (b)language deficiency (c)culture shock.

Conclusions This INVP model integrated variety of resources (human, organization, and community resources) and a series of learning activities to produce an effective program for a group of Taiwanese students.