Objective

Owing to the extensive and diverse nature of international nursing education, it is challenging for a lecturer to cover all its content. Moreover, this field has been facing a shortage of lecturers. This study aims to not only clarify the actual situation of international nursing lectures and the IT environment but also further obtain suggestions for the introduction of a remote education system for international nursing lectures.

Methods

Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to 1,075 schools available on the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare's "List of Nurse Training Institutes." The study was conducted between March and April 2021.

Results

In total, 411 schools were included in the analysis. International nursing-related subjects were included in 82.9% of the schools’ curriculum. Vocational nursing schools and 5-year integrated nursing schools had higher mandatory percentages than the universities. The full-time faculty placement rate was 68.7%. The implementation rate of "nursing to resident aliens" was 60%; however, specialized lecturers the content accounted for 18.3%. The various "nursing for health issues in international cooperation" constructs had less than 50% implementation rates. Over 90% of the schools provided a form of electronic devices to their students, and 86.4% had a Wi-Fi-enabled environment. The universities had higher percentages than vocational nursing schools and 5-year integrated nursing schools. An e-learning system was implemented by 38.7% of the schools, while 65.5% of the universities did, representing a statistically higher value than that of vocational nursing schools.

Conclusion

It was found that supplementing international nursing lectures with contents related to “resident alien nursing” and “actual international nursing cooperation” was necessary. The findings that the Wi-Fi-enabled environment was well diffused, whereas the e-learning system was not, were indicative of the high feasibility of introducing remote education along with enhancing the understanding of the system for schools other than universities.

Background

Establishing a school of global nursing (A) in 2021 was a significant milestone in response to the Japanese government's call for transcultural nursing education. This institution, dedicated to fostering nurses with a global perspective, has been hosting an annual international symposium. The insights presented in this report are derived from the questionnaire responses collected during the 2023 symposium.

Methods

Thirty students, including 19 nursing students and 11 international students from six countries, participated in a 2.5-hour session. They were asked to answer a questionnaire, which consisted of questions about the appropriateness of the symposium's contents and benefits, and then dropped into a box. The results were analyzed through simple tabulation and content analysis methods. The Ethics Committee of Iryo-Sosei University approved the research plan.

Results/Discussion

The unregistered questionnaire results indicated a 90% response rate and a 100% satisfaction rate. They all expressed a strong interest in continuing international exchange, while two critical issues became apparent. Nursing students realized their knowledge of other countries was less than they had thought. One contributing factor is that most of their prior knowledge was only from social media. International students come to Japan to study and become acquainted with Japanese people. However, most stated they had no Japanese friends, even after a few years of their stay in Japan.

Conclusion

The symposium was a testament to the benefits of international exchange for nursing and international students. However, it also brought to light two critical issues. Nursing students' information on foreign countries is not always accurate. International students tend to be isolated in Japan and do not receive the full benefits of studying abroad. Educational institutions play a role in exploring and implementing solutions to these issues.