Productive international faculty exchange: one Columbia University to Gothenburg University example

This article describes the preparation, implementation and outcomes of a visiting professor exchange experience from the United States to Sweden, and provides recommendations for other faculty who may be asked to enact a similar international role. The major goals of the visit were to coalesce the themes of the earlier administrative contacts into specific projects, and to model a scholarly faculty role consistent with the Columbia University School of Nursing mission as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for International Nursing Development. Professional nursing activities during the exchange visit were comprised of three main categories: teaching, consultation, and socialization. Strategies are described that enhanced the bilingual lectures for the Swedish students. The relationships that developed from consulting at the college and on site at various clinical locations culminated in the mutual identification of collaborative research projects and plans for the cross-cultural adaptation of the author's parent education model. Recommendations are made concerning the range of philosophical, institutional, professional and personal resources needed for international exchanges.