443chapter TWENTY
Enhancing the Doctor of Nursing
Practice Degree With a Mandatory
Study- Abroad Program
H. Michael Dreher , Mary Ellen Smith Glasgow , Vicki D. Lachman ,
Rick Zoucha , Melanie T. Turk , Scott Oldfi eld ,
Cynthia Gifford- Hollingsworth , and Margie Molloy
Although the study- abroad attendance at the undergraduate level is increasing in the
United States (after decreasing post- 9/ 11), still only an extremely small number of stu-
dents ultimately study abroad, and there is no real data on the number of undergrad-
uate nursing students who participate (Conant, 2010). In academic year 2013 to 2014,
the number of U.S. students studying abroad for credit increased by 5.2% (to 304,467
students), but this growth still only represented 1.5% of all U.S. students enrolled at in-
stitutions of higher education in the United States (NAFSA, 2016). At the graduate level,
there is an absence in the literature of study- abroad programs that focus exclusively on
graduate nursing students. In 2006, Drexel University started what was perhaps the first
mandatory study- abroad program for any nursing program in the United States. Drexel
focused its 2- week study- abroad program on its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DrNP) pro-
gram. Duquesne University initiated its own Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP ) study-
abroad program in 2008 and it will become mandatory in 2016. As stated in a 2014 paper
titled, What Will it Take to Double Study Abroad: A “Green Paper” on the Big 11 Ideas From
IIE’s Generation Study Abroad Think Tank “educators must do more to prepare today’s
students to succeed in the global economy. Study abroad enables today’s students—
future leaders from all backgrounds in all sectors— to gain access to international ex-
periences that will better prepare them for the world they will enter after graduation”
(Institute of International Education [IIE], 2015, p. 4 ). This chapter describes both pro-
grams and the experiences of the faculty and students who have participated in the
programs in London, Dublin, and Rome.