Faculty Preparation for Accompanying Nursing Students on International Experiences: Moving Beyond Trial-and-Error

Many Canadian nursing programs offer international experiences (IEs) as educational opportunities for students. While evidence of pre-departure preparation exists for students, little is known about the preparation of faculty who accompany them. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine novice-to-expert nursing faculty to explore faculty preparation for accompanying nursing students on IEs. The interpretive description design was informed by critical inquiry methods which examined preparation alignment with critical global perspectives. Four themes were interpreted including: the overarching theme of gaining preparation expertise over time, and three main themes of learning on-the-job, discovering the different responsibilities, and learning for-the-job. In the findings, experience was emphasized over formal preparation. Additionally, preparation was complicated by a lack of global health knowledge and a lack of institutional support. Recommendations include moving beyond learning from trial-and-error and moving towards intentional preparation that better considers the experience, knowledge, skills, and attitudes for preparing nursing faculty for IEs.