US-Cuba relations: Opening doors to expand nurse leadership and policy development

The UCLA School of Nursing expanded its international programs and now integrates a global health experience to Cuba. Supervised by faculty, students earn public health nursing credits while becoming immersed in Cuba’s prevention focused primary care model.  Faculty designed the eight day field work program, where students experience Cuba’s integrative physician/nurse team model, observe delivery of care, assess health data, visit maternity homes, senior care centers, policlinics, and conduct exchanges with health leaders and community workers.

Prior to travel, students completed assignments, including research and other materials that required them to critically assess Cuba’s primary care model. Students also participated in pre/post conference discussions and maintained clinical logs and reflective journal entries that required them to integrate what they experienced during the field visits and to critically assess the transferability of this health model to the U.S.

Cuba’s model of care will be discussed, along with the insight provided from the student’s reflective writings, as these suggest challenges in the U.S. health policies, as well as opportunities for improving the health system and decreasing health disparities. The widening of US-Cuba relations provides an opportunity for countries to learn how to overcome barriers and to develop innovative global health policies. 

Adopting the strong aspects of the Cuba model among vulnerable populations opens the door for intersectorial collaboration including policy, businesses, job opportunities, social services, etc., while also engaging stakeholders for structural and process changes. For example, with immunization programs, homeless and drug users/criminal justice, as each needs all the environmental supports they can get.