Transforming Global Leadership Skills in Graduate Nursing Programs Using an Intercultural Setting and a Case Study on Refugees

Abstract


 
 
 Transformation of our world to a more just and equitable system will require a fundamental shift from a domination approach to a partnership-based approach. In nursing and health care, this shift will require a global perspective with culturally humble providers and systems. In this article we share the experience of our international course Leadership in Nursing – a Global Approach, a joint project of the University of Iceland Faculty of Nursing and the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. This collaborative immersion course offers a model of global partnership-based health-care education. International partnership-based collaboration in nursing and health-care education prepares students and faculty to take an active role in transforming global systems.
 
 

Innovative teaching in turbulent times: The benefits of faculty–student collaboration in a graduate healthcare management course

“…The course is taught in collaboration with the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in the US. For the past five years an increased global perspective has been added to the course, with collaborative online international learning (COIL) 5 throughout the semester, and with an international week at the end of the course, 4 emphasizing global thinking and cultural sensitivity besides core managerial and leadership content. The aim of the course is for students to gain theoretical and practical knowledge on administrative matters and prepare them for administrative roles in healthcare.…”

“…Besides teaching everything online, the faculty in charge of this course had to come up with an innovative solution to substitute for a face-to-face international week, the crown of jewel in our course. 4 Keeping students excited about the subject as well as the assignment, truly widening their horizons and leaving them eager to grow as global nurse leaders, was the mission in this changed world of COVID. We had to think quickly and wisely to preserve the value of the course and come up with something equally exciting and valuable that we could do without ever meeting face to face.…”

A Positive Project Outcome: Lessons from a Non-Dominant Government University-Based Program

“…(Program Manager 1), highlights the themes of autonomy, trust, openness, and flexibility in inter-organizational communications despite the geographic and technological challenges and new opportunities of COVID. These elements, especially trust, often contribute significantly to non-dominating contexts (Bragadóttir et al, 2020;Chung & Davies, 2016;de Azevedo Hanks, 2015;Spreitzer, 1995). However, while a wide range of research underscores the importance of trust for successful partnerships (Child, 2001;Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi, 2013;Gambetta, 1988;Kerasidou, 2019;Lutomia, 2019;Naik, 2018;Nameth & Wheeler, 2018), without the reciprocal, bi-directional quality cited by the quotation above, trust alone does not guarantee moving away from the domination end of the domination/partnership continuum.…”

Nurses and midwives as global and glocal leaders

“…As global leaders in achieving the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, nurses and midwives contribute to ensuring health equity and improved quality of life for all humans and the planet as whole. Global leadership requires true partnership, cultural humility, as well as willingness to be open minded, non-judgmental, and to grow professionally and personally (Bragadóttir et al, 2020). To become a competent global leader, one must learn, develop, and practice the skills of global leadership.…”

“…This way students become glocal leaders as they learn to think globally while acting locally. The more traditional way of participating in an international course where people come together in a common space may also be valuable for developing global leadership, not the least when the course assignment is on relevant challenging health care issues of today such as refugees and environmental matters (Bragadóttir et al, 2020). Working with health care professionals from another country and culture where the health care services and other structures of society are different from what you are used to, resolving a challenge concerning the whole world, is a perfect way to learn and practice a global approach in all respects.…”