Alghamdi Reem, Albloushi Monirah, Alzahrani Ebtesam, Aldawsari Aisha, Alyousef Seham
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Ireland.
College of Nursing, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Int J Nurs Educ Scholarsh. 2019 Feb 23;16(1):ijnes-2018-0027. doi: 10.1515/ijnes-2018-0027.
Aim To explore the challenges in nursing education in Saudi Arabia from nurse educators' and leaders' perspectives. Background Saudi Arabia considerably lacks Saudi nurses and most nurses in Saudi healthcare facilities are expatriates with diverse academic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. The perception regarding nurses' profession and their low status in Saudi Arabia affect the nursing profession negatively, leading to staff insufficiency. Understanding the difficulties of the nursing profession could help intervene accordingly, in encouraging students to pursue a career in nursing. Methods An exploratory qualitative method was used. Three Saudi nursing educators and four leaders were interviewed. They were recruited through purposive sampling. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings Participants indicated that nursing education in Saudi Arabia is facing multiple challenges requiring serious attention from Saudi leaders. The challenges were divided to four themes and different categories; cultural challenges, educational challenges, organizational challenges (weak nursing authority, lack of acknowledgement for Saudi nurses), and work challenges (poor working environment, language barrier). Discussion The challenges that face nursing education in Saudi Arabia were mainly at three levels: management, system, and social. These challenges were the reasons for Saudi nurses to leave the profession. Conclusion This study revealed some of the challenges facing nursing education in Saudi Arabia. These challenges are not unique to Saudi Arabia but knowing about these challenges will help nurse educators and leaders to improve nursing programs, enhance students' clinical experiences, and promote nursing profession in Saudi Arabia.
目的 从护士教育工作者和领导者的角度探讨沙特阿拉伯护理教育面临的挑战。背景 沙特阿拉伯严重缺乏沙特本国护士，沙特医疗保健机构中的大多数护士是具有不同学术、文化和语言背景的外籍人士。沙特阿拉伯对护士职业的认知以及护士的低地位对护理行业产生了负面影响，导致人员不足。了解护理职业的困难有助于相应地进行干预，鼓励学生从事护理职业。方法 采用探索性定性方法。对三名沙特护理教育工作者和四名领导者进行了访谈。他们通过目的抽样法招募。访谈内容逐字记录，并使用主题分析法对数据进行分析。结果 参与者表示，沙特阿拉伯的护理教育面临多重挑战，需要沙特领导人予以认真关注。这些挑战分为四个主题和不同类别：文化挑战、教育挑战、组织挑战（护理权威薄弱、对沙特护士缺乏认可）和工作挑战（工作环境差、语言障碍）。讨论 沙特阿拉伯护理教育面临的挑战主要存在于三个层面：管理、体系和社会。这些挑战是沙特护士离开该职业的原因。结论 本研究揭示了沙特阿拉伯护理教育面临的一些挑战。这些挑战并非沙特阿拉伯所独有，但了解这些挑战将有助于护士教育工作者和领导者改进护理项目、增强学生的临床经验并促进沙特阿拉伯的护理职业发展。
