Reaching out to Taiwan

Pictured above in the front row: Li-Yin Chien (dean of nursing at NYCU), Cindy Zellefrow, Randee Masciola, Dianne Morrison-Beedy and Stephen McGhee at NYCU in Taiwan

by Ella Gomez

Four faculty from the College of Nursing embarked in July on a nursing education and research project that was 17 months and 7,693 miles in the making.

The purpose was to begin an impactful partnership with National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taiwan. The trip was led by Chief Global Strategy Officer Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, CGNC, FFNMRCSI, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN; RN to BSN Director and evidence-based practice expert Cindy Zellefrow, DNP, RN, CSN, EBP-C; Doctor of Nursing Practice Program Director Randee Masciola, DNP, APRN-CNP, WHNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP; and Assistant Dean of International Education Initiatives Stephen McGhee, DNP, PGCE, RNT, RN, VR, FNAP, FFNMRCSI, FAAN. 

When Chyongchlou Lin, PhD, MS, who now serves as health economist in the college’s Martha S. Pitzer Center for Women, Children and Youth, visited her home country, Taiwan, in February 2023, she initiated a conversation with NYCU colleagues who wanted to refine their DNP program. Faculty from NYCU visited the College of Nursing that July to talk further. “NYCU has the first and only DNP program in Taiwan, but all their faculty were PhD-prepared,” Morrison-Beedy said. The team resolved to figure out how to help NYCU adapt their curriculum to be tailored to DNP students. 

Thanks to a grant from Ohio State’s Office of International Affairs and Global Gateways, Masciola, McGee, Morrison-Beedy and Zellefrow were able to go to NYCU for almost two weeks in July 2024. During their stay, the Ohio State team engaged in intensive discussions with NYCU’s DNP program faculty, reviewed their curriculum and delivered tailored lectures and workshops. They gave curriculum feedback and surveyed students and faculty to gauge the impact of the EBP lectures on attitudes, knowledge and behavior.

“By the end of the first few days, we had students asking questions, staying after we gave the talks, coming in with information to us. They were really engaged,” Morrison-Beedy said. The team interviewed some of NYCU’s first DNP graduates to find out more about their roles and the influence of their education on nursing practice in Taiwan. They also gave lectures at the National Taiwanese Nurses Association.

The China Gateway Grant also helped to initiate the College of Nursing’s first collaborative online international learning (COIL) global exchange, led by Masciola, who was awarded support from the Office of Global Innovations’ COIL funding.

Morrison-Beedy said future goals include further collaborations in research and education areas, not only with NYCU, but with other universities in Taiwan as well. “When you have the brain and heart working together across countries, across colleges, across disciplines, that’s when you come up with ideas that change the world,” she said.