Between June 6 – 17, 2022, The Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University, organized the online course “NSID225/226 Cultural Diversity in Health Care for Interprofessional Education, instructed in English, for Thai and international students as a virtual exchange program via Microsoft Teams. Assistant Professor Dr. Rudee Pungbangkadee from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecological Nursing, took part as Course Director. The instructor team consisted of 7 lecturers from Faculty of Nursing, 2 lecturers from Faculty of Medical Technology. There were also 4 international co-instructors from Universitas Indonesia, St. Luke’s International University, and The University of Hong Kong joining to give advice and evaluate students.

The total number of students was 90 people consisting of 17 students from the Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University (Thailand), 5 students from Faculty of Medical Technology, Mahidol University (Thailand), 20 students from Peking Union Medical College (China), 20 students from Universitas Indonesia (Indonesia), 3 students from St. Luke’s International University (Japan), 6 students from Kyushu University (Japan), 12 students from The University of Hong Kong (HKSAR), 7 students from Tzu Chi University (Taiwan ROC).

The objectives of the course were to provide knowledge and understanding of the concepts of transcultural health care and cultural competence and the concepts of Interprofessional healthcare practice; roles, duties, and responsibilities, communication, and teamwork. Students who enrolled in this course shall learn to work with people from different cultures and different fields of health care professions.

During the course, there were also special lectures by teachers from University of Indonesia, St. Luke's International University, Peking Union Medical College, The University of Hong Kong, and Tzu Chi University joining to give information on the topics “Roles and Responsibilities of Interprofessional Healthcare Team for Teamwork”, “Factors Related to Healthcare for Culturally Diverse Clients by Interprofessional Healthcare Team”, and “Issues Related to Health Care for Culturally Diverse Clients”. Students gained fresh knowledge about a variety of cultural aspects from different countries and multidisciplinary more from the valuable lectures provided in this course. It was in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) that multidisciplinary faculties from Mahidol University jointly collaborated with leading educational institutions in foreign countries to create new knowledge for students which will be beneficial to their both personal and working development in the soon future.