TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCES: NURSING EDUCATION AND INTERNATIONAL IMMERSION PROGRAMS

This article captures the viewpoints of U.S. baccalaureate nurses who, while in nursing school, participated in international immersion programs. Developed, implemented, and accompanied by me, students embarked on multiple international journeys. Students provided complete hands-on nursing care while simultaneously being totally enmeshed in the life of the host community. Informants spoke of profound changes in their personal and professional lives as a direct result of their work or study abroad. The biggest issues for the students were the development of "having blind trust" in the circumstances around them, "valuing others" regardless of sociocultural differences, and making fundamental transformational choices in their lives that persist even 5, 10, and 15 years later. Going abroad dramatically influenced changes, including a depth of compassion, acceptance of differences, recognition of societal ills, and a willingness to take risks to promote change. "Life-changing" experiences make it necessary, even critically important, that students live and learn in cultures other than their own.