Creating a context for professional dialogue between United States and Russian nurses: design of an international conference.

This age of globalization challenges nurses to find effective ways to promote interaction to further scholarly efforts across cultural boundaries. This article describes critical conference design elements necessary to create a context for transnational professional dialogue. Collaborative efforts such as study exchanges and workshops resulting from this conference have fostered dialogue on ways to strengthen nursing practice to improve patient and family outcomes in the United States and Russia. The design of such a conference can serve as a model for promoting joint scholarly efforts to increase understanding among nurses across the globe.