Abstract:

INTRODUCTION
There are an estimated 15million nurses in the world currently, and many issues and challenges faced by nurses around the globe are virtually identical. In the 21st century, nurses need to adopt new ways of working together to effect change. There exists a need for collaborative efforts in nursing education, practice and research to address global issues in health care, in the present and into the future using distance education. The identified complexities of the spread of diseases world-wide require nurses to look beyond our own borders to global levels. The authors offer this proposal for collaboration internationally with schools of nursing to expand basic, baccalaureate, and graduate nursing education through online distance curriculum delivery.

PURPOSES
There is a need to address the just allocation of scarce resources globally. The following identify several purposes for this exploratory approach to create and substantiate collaboration for international nursing education curricula, research and practices.
• Provide opportunities for nursing education advancement by
1) Delivering an international curricula online and 2) Expanding availability of advanced degrees
• Assist in addressing culturally diverse health care needs.
• Address global issues of chronicity and aging.

The world-wide nursing shortage globally is recognized as a dangerous lack of skilled nurses to care for individuals and populations. This shortage is affecting health care delivery on a global basis. Collaborative educational efforts seek to:
• Develop nurse leaders in higher education
• Share faculty expertise and research findings
• Explore international clinical experiences for students
• Expand availability of advanced degree programs
• Clarify/define nursing’s role globally in issues of medical tourism

METHOD
Through collaboration between the School of Nursing, California State University Dominguez Hills, USA, and schools of nursing within Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and Iraq, distance education technology strategies are being identified to enhance and advance nursing education globally. Nursing practice will be improved by sharing and implementing evidence-based procedures and engaging in exchange opportunities

EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Nursing Education:
• Advance and enhance nursing education globally by sharing evidence- based (EBP) research.
• Reduce stress on nurses - nurse scientists possess the potential to decrease the global burden of catastrophic and tragic health outcomes.
• Develop online classes for international theoretical and clinical experiences.
• Organize and educate nurses using simulation, to improve performance and reduce errors.
Nursing Practice:
• Increase the quality of life for the population by sharing guidelines for standard of care and proactive guidelines.
• Improve outcomes
• Identify international populations -populations on the periphery of society and the disenfranchised
Research:
• Serve as joint research collaborators
• Replicate research findings for various cultural groups

CONCLUSION
This win-win collaboration can be beneficial for nurses to practice, conduct research, educate others and collaborate internationally for the advancement of the profession and health care. This can be very beneficial for faculty to faculty interactions, student to student interactions and specialty to specialty interactions.

Keywords:

Collaboration, Nursing Education, International, Globalization, Distance education, Online collaboration.