Challenges facing the nursing profession in Saudi Arabia: An integrative review

There is a paucity of recent literature identifying the issues facing the nursing profession inSaudi Arabia. The aim of this integrative review is to highlight the ongoing challenges facing thenursing profession in Saudi Arabia despite attempts to make a difference and suggests recommendations for the future. Literature published from 2000 to 2020, inclusive, relevant for nursing challengesin Saudi Arabia was accessed and reviewed from multiple sources. In Saudi Arabia, inadequatenumbers of Saudi nurses have prompted an increase in recruitment of expatriate nurses. This hascreated its own issues including, retention, lack of competency in English and Arabic, as well asArabic cultural aspects, insufficient experience, and a high workload. The result is job dissatisfactionand increased attrition as these nurses prefer to move to more developed countries. For nationalnurses, the issues are the need to recruit more and retain these nurses. There are a range of culturalfactors that contribute to these issues with national nurses. There is a need to improve the image ofnursing to recruit more Saudi nurses as well as addressing issues in education and work environment.For expatriate nurses there is a need for a better recruitment processes, a thorough program ofeducation to improve knowledge and skills to equip them to work and stay in Saudi. There is also aneed for organizational changes to be made to increase the job satisfaction and retention of nursesgenerally. Healthcare in Saudi Arabia also needs leaders to efficiently manage the various issuesassociated with the nursing workforce challenges