Nursing Education and International Health in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean

Purpose: To identify international health activities in United States, Latin American, and Caribbean schools of nursing. In the international community, nurses face challenges similar to those in related professions, but without the benefit of a long tradition. There is little research about how nursing education and associated activities prepare nurses to deal with international health, and little information about the extent of international health activities in U.S. schools of nursing. Design: Descriptive. Method: Using a questionnaire with 16 items, a survey was conducted in 1995 on a random sample of representatives from 100 university schools of nursing in the United States plus 15 schools with known international activities (10 from the United States and 5 from Latin America and the Caribbean). Findings: International health as a program topic was found in one‐third of U.S. schools of nursing. However, nursing curriculums do not integrate international health with other subjects. Also, partnerships with foreign institutions are incipient and international health activities are usually individual initiatives with little institutional support. Conclusions: For nurses to become major contributors to international health, nursing curriculum content must shift from “international nursing” to “international health.” Programs of nursing education should include study of social, economic, and political factors that affect health care systems. Schools should develop partnership agreements. Educación en Enfermeía y Salud Internaciónal en los Estados Unidos, América Latina y el Caribe