ABSTRACT
Background:
Student nurses in high-
income countries are increasingly taking opportunities to undertake international clinical placements in low- and middle-
income countries as part of their pre-registration studies.
Objectives:
This
review aimed to identify and evaluate existing
research explores what local people in low- and middle-
income countries think of international clinical placements taking place in their localities. This includes a range of local stakeholders, such as clinicians (including
midwives,
nurses,
physicians,
pharmacists, and academics),
healthcare students (from any discipline),
patients,
carers, and
community members. Considering the limited
research focused specifically on local individuals exposed to
nursing students, we sought to
review the wider
research exploring the
perceptions of local people in low- and middle-
income countries
who have been exposed to any type of travelling pre-registration
healthcare students. The aim of this
review was to assess the size and scope of available
research literature, establish
research priorities, and provide generalizable findings relevant to all international clinical placements, including those undertaken by
nursing students.
Design:
Electronic databases were used to search for published results of previous
research, including
PubMed, Embase, Web of
Science, CINAHL,
Medline Ovid, and the Cochrane
Library. Thirteen peer-reviewed articles were included after the
screening process. The results of the original studies were analysed using a thematic synthesis.
Results:
Themes identified included
learning (with subthemes of travelling
students learning from local people, local people
learning from travelling
students, and optimising
learning), prestige, travelling
student behaviour, and
resource use (with subthemes of enhancing
resources, draining
resources and improvements via partnership working). Whilst challenges and drawbacks of international clinical placements were identified, on balance, local people across all the studies were positive about receiving travelling
students and keen for this to continue.
Conclusion:
This
work has found that the current body of
research exploring
perceptions of international clinical placements was heavily focused on local clinicians
who have been exposed to travelling
medical students. Some of the themes identified may be generalisable to all stakeholders of all types of international clinical placements. These include the central concern regarding reciprocity and the desire that international placements should be beneficial for all involved, rather than solely the travelling
student. However, further
research is required to understand how other types of placements, such as
nursing placements, are viewed by other local people (e.g.,
patients).