The commitment of Saudi nursing students to nursing as a profession and as a career

Background: The dependency in Saudi Arabian hospitals on expatriate nurses from various nationalities can create barriers between patients and nurses because of differences in religion, culture, social values and relatively short-term commitments. Objectives: It is important to explore the motivation of Sadui nationals for entering nurse training and the attractiveness of nursing as a career for them. Method: In order to study potential barriers to achieving the Saudisation goal of increasing the number of Saudi nurses, a survey of first-year nursing students was carried out to explore their motivation for entering nurse training, their perceptions of the attractiveness of nursing as a career for Saudi nationals, their future aspirations and the reasons they considered might cause students to drop out of training. Results: It was found that training to be a nurse was the first choice for over 60% of the sample. Overall, the students in the survey were very positive about nursing with the vast majority claiming to have chosen it because they wanted to become a health professional. The statement that the Saudi community view nursing negatively as a low job elicited strong agreement from many respondents. Many responding students considered the heavy workload facing students, the theory part of the study and the difficulty of studying in English language, as important contributing factors in student dropout. Conclusions & Recommendations: It is concluded that students are generally positive about their commitment to become nursing students. It would be worth carrying out a similar study with school leavers in general. It is important to recognise that the Saudisation process needs to address attitudes in society to help remove barriers to nursing. Further study to determine actual career patterns and impact on Saudisation would be useful. [Sana Al-Mahmoud and Penelope M Mullen. The commitment of Saudi nursing students to nursing as a profession and as a career. Life Sci J 2013;10(2):591-603] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 86