The professional journey of Saudi nurse graduates: A lived experience

Objective: To illuminate the lived experience of Saudi Nurse graduates during their early years in the workplace as professional nurses encompassing their experiences from being nurse students, preparations to become registered nurses, their struggles from being a student to a professional nurse, their cultural competence towards colleagues and patients in their new workplace, their impression of Nursing as a profession and other challenges they faced in especially on language and communication with their patients and colleagues. Methods: An interpretive phenomenological inquiry was utilized to inquire and discover the lived experiences of Saudi Nurse graduates to their job as nurses in different hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 12 nurses were interviewed for this study in the course of 5 months. The interviews conducted with the 12 nurses were audiotaped recorded and subsequently transcribed in verbatim form and the Collaizi Method was used for the extraction of meanings from the interviews. Results: Five major themes were identified in the transcribed form of the interview and 11 subthemes emerged as well. The five major themes were educational preparation, transition into practice, cultural competence, image of nursing and language and communication. Conclusions: The study described the different challenges faced by Saudi nurse graduates from being students to professionals based from their experiences as newly employed staff nurses in different hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Their stories captured the story of novice nurses not only as a Saudi but may be true for other nationalities. These stories are shared by all nurses across the world who struggle to meet the demands of the nursing profession.Mohammad Alboliteeh, Judy Magarey, Richard Wiechul

An exploration of the influences on under-representation of male pre-registration nursing students

Background:- Worldwide, men are under-represented in the nursing profession. In Scotland less than 10% of pre-registration nursing students are male. Reasons for this imbalance need to be understood. Objectives:- To explore the views of male pre-registration nursing students, nursing lecturers and school teachers about this imbalance. Design:- Mixed methods study using focus groups and online survey. Settings:- Focus groups in four locations across Scotland. Online survey sent to teachers across Scotland. Participants and methods:- Eight focus groups with 33 male nursing students; four focus groups with 21 university and college nursing lecturers; 46 school teachers returned the online survey. Results:- Although nursing was considered a worthwhile career with job stability and many opportunities, it was also viewed as not being a career for men. Assumptions about the profession and femininity were challenging for men and use of the term ‘male nurse’ was felt to be anomalous. In some circumstances the provision of intimate care to particular patient groups caused difficulty. Positive encouragement from others, a positive role model or knowledge of nursing from significant others could be helpful. However concerns about low earning potential and negative media publicity about the NHS could be a disincentive. Being mature and having resilience were important to cope with being a male nursing student in a mainly female workplace. Some more ‘technical’ specialties were felt to be more attractive to men. Conclusions:- Nursing is viewed as a worthwhile career choice for men, but the gendered assumptions about the feminine nature of nursing can be a deterrent

Choosing to become a nurse in Saudi Arabia and the lived experience of new graduates: a mixed methods study.

Saudi Arabia has undergone rapid social and economic change in recent years. As one of the largest employers in the country, these changes have had a significant impact on the healthcare sector, in particular on the nursing workforce. In the past, Saudi Arabia relied almost exclusively upon expatriate nurses to meet the healthcare needs of its growing population. However, an increase in the Saudi population, high levels of Saudi unemployment, and a desire to redress the country’s reliance on an expatriate workforce, led the Saudi government to implement a Saudisation program, an initiative to recruit, train and employ Saudi nationals throughout the workforce. As a result, approximately 50% of nurses are now of Saudi nationality. This research is a mixed methods study. A quantitative study was undertaken to gain a description of the Saudi nursing workforce in Riyadh city; in particular their motivations, views of the profession and future plans. The initial aim of the quantitative study was to ascertain why high numbers of Saudi males were entering the nursing workforce in Saudi Arabia; however, female nurses were also surveyed in order to understand if there was a relationship between gender and motivations to undertake nursing, views of the profession and future plans. In this component of the study, a self-administered survey was distributed to all Saudi nurses working as registered nurses in Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals in Riyadh. The results indicated that the Saudi Arabia nurses surveyed were young and inexperienced with a mean age of 27 years and with 80% having less than five years’ experience in the nursing field. Other important issues emerged in this study, such as the nurses’ desire for educational and professional development; poor working conditions in the sector; the low social status of the profession; difficulties associated with working in a mixed-gender environment; and cultural and communication problems. Significantly, just below half of all respondents intended leaving the profession. These results informed the second, qualitative component of this study which sought to explore in more depth, some of the findings which emerged from the initial component of the study. The second study aimed to explore the lived experience of newly gradated Saudi Nurses. Twelve newly graduate nurses who had been working in Ministry of Health Hospitals in Riyadh five years or less were interviewed. In-depth interviews in the Arabic language were performed with the nurses, who had been working in the profession for five years or less. Themes were identified from the data using van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Six major themes emerged from analysis of the data. Firstly, nurses felt unprepared for nursing. They felt they lacked the educational and training support they required, had little knowledge of the profession before joining, and had rarely chosen the profession themselves. Secondly, nurses in the study felt they were not readily included in nursing teams and were marginalised and discriminated against by management and expatriate nurses. In addition, Saudi nurses suffered from the poor social status associated with the profession and were subject to criticism and poor treatment by family, other health professionals and society at large. Despite this, nurses in general had a positive attitude to their profession. Saudi nurses indicated that they believed Saudi nurses were vital to the profession; both male and female nurses considered male nurses of central importance to the profession to ensure that the cultural and religious needs of Saudi patients were met. Finally, Saudi nurses showed an awareness of social changes occurring in nursing and in society in general and expressed a desire to be part of this change. This study offers important insights into a segment of the Saudi nursing workforce, which has not been the subject of intensive study. This new, emerging nursing workforce is making a mark on the Saudi healthcare sector. In order to prevent attrition in the nursing field, Saudi nurses need to be provided with appropriate education, training, respect and working conditions. This study offers important recommendations and insights for the future of Saudi nursing.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Nursing, 201

The Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Physicians and Nurses toward Adverse Event Reporting System in Primary Health Care Setting

Introduction: To determine the influence of physicians and nurses’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) on Occurrence, Variance and Accident or OVA Reporting System usage in order to improve and to contribute to patient safety.  Materials and Methods: The study utilized a quantitative research methodology specifically descriptive design. The samples of this study were primary health care physicians and nurses working at NGHA, Saudi Arabia. A hard copy of the survey was distributed to two Primary Care Centers which are Yarmook and Khashim ala’an.  Results:Most of the physicians and nurses had a good knowledge of OVA utilization (89.5%), although nurses were more likely than physicians to have good knowledge (94% vs. 53.6%) and to have a better practice level of the OVA system (82.1% vs. 52.4%). In another point, physicians were more likely to have negative attitude toward the OVA system than nurses (71.4% vs.42.9%). A significant difference emerged between physicians’ and nurses’ KAP toward the OVA reporting system and nationality, language, and working site as revealed by the results. Conclusion:This was the first survey to assess nurses’ and physicians’ KAP toward the use of the OVA reporting system among primary health care level in Saudi Arabia. Apparently, 6% of the participants were not aware of the existing OVA reporting system. The findings of the survey demonstrated that nurses had better knowledge and practice and a less negative attitude to the system

The Profile of Saudi Nursing Workforce: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction. The Royal Monarchy in Saudi Arabia decreed that all sectors of the workforce would be subject to a policy of “Saudisation” to reduce the reliance on the expatriate workforce and to reduce the unemployment rate of Saudi nationals (Al-Mahmoud et al., 2012). Methodology. A cross-sectional design was chosen to investigate the research questions. The population of this study comprised Saudi Registered Nurses working in MOH hospitals in Riyadh which is the main health care provider in Saudi Arabia (Aboul-Enein, 2002; MOH, 2009). Results and Findings. A total number of 1,198 questionnaires were distributed and 61.2% (n=741) were returned. The findings of the study showed that the questionnaires were collected from an equal portion of the study locale and that a sample of 741 is enough to create a strong conclusion and answer the problem set in this study and all the questions in the study have been provided with answers with enough data and literatures to supports its findings. Conclusion and Recommendations. The results indicate that an increase in the recruitment of Saudi males may simply reflect cultural issues such as gender specific facilities and the Saudisation program’s nondiscriminatory approach to employment of both genders into nursing

The Impact of Mental Well-Being, Stress, and Coping Strategies on Resilience among Staff Nurses during COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: A Structural Equational Model

Previous studies have revealed various factors related to nurses’ resilience and predictors of resilience. However, there are no studies analysing the association of three variables—mental well-being, coping strategies, and stress—with resilience. This study aims to assess the impact of mental well-being, levels of stress, and coping strategies on resilience using path analysis. This study used a cross-sectional approach that involved 763 nurses from 16 major hospitals in the eastern and northern regions of Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data gathering was conducted from August to November 2022. The staff nurses possessed positive mental wellness (3.75 ± 1.08), moderate stress levels (3.06 ± 1.21), adequate coping skills (3.33 ± 1.23), and a low level of resilience (2.90 ± 1.040). Age had a small effect on resilience (β = 0.040; p p > 0.139) and marital status (β = 0.019; p > 0.072) were not significant. Conversely, mental well-being (β = 0.043; p p p < 0.001) had a large effect on resilience. Therefore, coping strategies must be reinforced at all times to assist nurses and other healthcare professionals in identifying contributing elements that maintain these workers’ resilience in the face of unforeseen and protracted pandemics and other life events