JEDDAH, 14 April 2004 — A career in nursing offers good opportunities and potential to Saudis, especially Saudi women. In a recent meeting with nursing directors, Dr. Hamad Al-Manie, the minister of health, said the ministry needed 70,000 nurses in its hospitals and health centers. To encourage Saudis to go into nursing, the ministry plans to increase enrollment in health colleges and institutes from 200 to 5,000.
The ministry also has plans to change the certificate of the health colleges from a diploma to a bachelor’s degree and to send more students abroad for post-graduate degrees.
According to estimates, if 2,000 nursing students graduated annually, it would take 45 years to fill the national shortage of nurses. Saudi nurses currently constitute 28.3 percent of the nurses working in the Ministry of Health and only 0.8 percent in private hospitals.
“There is interest in nursing by Saudis but it is still limited,” said Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Homaidi, director of academic and training affairs at King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) in Jeddah. At KFSH, there are 30 Saudi nurses out of a total of 600.
Dr. Al-Homaidi said the average number of Saudi nurses in the whole Kingdom probably did not exceed one percent. “It is not a matter of a negative perception of nursing. I feel that nurses and their families are proud of their work. Maybe what we need is greater awareness of the nature of the job,” he said.
Dr. Al-Homaidi said perhaps part of the problem is the working hours. On the other hand, he believes the salaries are very encouraging. “The number of applicants is increasing and there are opportunities for higher degrees and scholarships. I can get general nurses from abroad to handle simple things, but I want the nurse caring for the patients and educating others to be a Saudi who knows our language and culture,” he explained.
An oncology nurse at KFSH, Noor Al-Attas, said, “I had problems at first with my father; he wouldn’t agree for me to go into nursing. The duties are heavy and it needs sacrifice and he also felt that socially it was not a desirable job.”
She still has problems but things are better now. She went to work at KFSH two years ago after graduating from King Abdul Aziz University with a bachelor degree in nursing. Saudi nurses do make a difference with patients, not just because they are Saudi or necessarily from the medical side, but “in being supportive and in understanding the patient,” she said.
Mashael Diwan, also an oncology nurse, agrees. “You have to love your work,” she said.
She had difficulties with her patients, too. “As a student, there were problems with patients because I was unsure of myself but now I’m more confident.” For her, it is not only about treating the disease but also about helping the patients socially as well as spiritually.
“When I graduated 19 years ago, there were six nursing graduates,” said Raja Jadelhack, director of nursing services and education at the Maternity and Children’s Hospital in Jeddah. Now, 10 times that number graduate and still it is not enough, she said.
She believes that ways of thinking among Saudis have changed and that girls are willing to become nurses but their families often reject the idea and pressure their daughters into other fields. There are opportunities for post-graduate studies but only in Riyadh or abroad.
The biggest problem in hospitals with Saudi nurses is the night shift, especially with married nurses.
The Maternity Hospital employs the highest number of Saudi nurses in Jeddah — 118 out of 421, all women. Thirteen years ago, the ministry changed the working hours from 35 a week to 48 and increased nurses’ salaries by only 20 percent regardless of their degree, experience or type of duties.
Nurses in public hospitals are paid less than nurses in private hospitals and their salaries have not increased in 13 years. “There is no correlation between the hours we work and the salary we get. The nurses only get one day off, and they complain that they cannot spend enough time with their families and this causes them problems. This has led to many of them going into administrative jobs or requesting transfers to a health center,” Raja said.
Dr. Al-Manee has addressed this issue recently and said that the ministry was studying it to determine the reasons for this and how it could be managed.
One thing is sure, however, Raja said, “Nurses can find a job quickly because there is a demand.”
