Amal Al-Sibai
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — A nurse is a person who is by the patient’s side from the beginning to the end of the hospital experience, no matter how long or short the patient’s hospital stay is.
It is the nurse who is there to reassure the patient, console, comfort, talk, and even administer their treatment.
A nurse is adorned with a soothing smile and the virtuous qualities that help the patient recover, such as being caring, hard working, self-sacrificing, kind, patient, humble, and helpful.
So why is it that in most Arab societies when a young girl announces that she dreams of becoming a nurse — instead of encouragement and admiration from her parents — she receives lamentation and disapproval?
Why are nurses not treated with the respect and appreciation that they deserve?
Tuqa Droubi is a 12th grade student who loves helping people, serving her family, and is also interested in science and is amazed by the workings of the human body.
When she shared with her family that she wants to be a nurse, her parents’ reaction was not a supportive one.
Droubi’s parents and even her friends at school were exasperated and they hailed down on her with one question after another, “What? Is that all you could come up with for yourself as a career? If you want to help people, what don’t you just study medicine? Why can’t you be an engineer like your brother?”
“Society is still not ready to accept Saudi or Arab nurses. They still have the mistaken belief that nursing is only a job for expatriates from the Far East.
“They disapprove of the mingling of sexes that occurs on the job and some closed-minded people even claim that a girl who wants to be a nurse is a bad person,” said Droubi.
“I strongly disagree. I believe that nursing is a noble and a humanitarian profession. The only thing standing between me and entering nursing college is my parents’ rejection.
“I will continue to try to convince them and push for what I want and pray that they have a change in heart, but in the end I cannot go against them,” she added.
The shortage of qualified nurses is a major challenge facing the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia today. The number of Saudi nurses has always been insufficient to meet workforce needs.
Thus, the hospitals rely heavily on recruiting expatriate nurses from all over the world into the workforce which makes it more difficult to retain nurses for long term and also creates communication problems between the patient and nurse.
According to 2009 data from the Ministry of Health, out of the 110,858 nurses across all healthcare sectors in the Kingdom, only 32.3 percent of them were Saudi.
Saudi and Arab nurses are needed because they can provide culturally sensitive nursing care, who understand our patients’ religion, need for privacy, cultural concerns and values, and who speak the same language.
Having such nurses can make a huge positive difference in the patient’s treatment and recovery process.
“I am a Saudi nurse and I am proud. Nursing is challenging, exciting, and very rewarding. Few other professions can give you the chance to touch the lives of people and make a difference in someone’s life as much as nursing does.
“It is time for society to realize that nurses are intelligent, committed, educated, and sensitive to their patients’ needs.
“Today, nursing is a career that is in high demand and has a high potential in both government and private hospitals in the Kingdom,” said Rana Mulla, a registered and practicing nurse.
Now in the middle of her nursing program at Umm Al-Qura University, Duaa Al-Harbi said she had a hard time convincing her family that she wanted to be a nurse.
She graduated from high school with very high scores and they were baffled why she didn’t choose a major that was better in their view.
“I wanted to serve the sick, communicate with them and tend to their needs and help, especially the elderly. When I entered the nursing program they were not too happy in the beginning. Slowly, I started telling my family about success stories of inspirational Saudi nurses or about the interesting new things I learned or about a patient I helped who prayed for my welfare.
“I showed them that I can easily practice my job while always wearing my hijab,” said Al-Harbi.
“In the past, our society completely refused to accept the idea of a Saudi nurse, but that is starting to change.
“Gradually we can heighten the awareness in society on the importance of the nurse’s job. Just like education for girls in the Kingdom was opposed earlier, but now it is flourishing.
“I think us nurses have the duty to reach out to the society and to go to the girls’ schools and colleges to conduct educational workshops about this vital field of healthcare.
“When Umm Al-Qura University first opened the nursing program, which is a five year program, only 20 students enrolled. In the second year 45 students enrolled and in the year after that, 72 young women sat for their first year of nursing,” said Al-Harbi.
Nursing in the Kingdom has come a long way but there is still room for growth. King Abdulaziz University introduced the first baccalaureate nursing education program in the Kingdom in 1977, with only six female Saudi students declaring nursing as their major that year.
The number of students increased annually to reach a total number of 756 nursing graduates by the year 2007.
The nursing curriculum is usually a four-year academic program followed by one-year internship at the hospital during which students consolidate clinical skills and academic knowledge.
Al-Farabi Medical College is a private university that offers dentistry and nursing programs.
“There has lately been an increasing interest in the nursing profession among young Saudi women. During the times of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) women played a vital role in nursing and tending to the wounded during battles.
“Women today can aspire to work as nurses, just as these noble and honored female companions of the Prophet (PBUH) did,” said Dr. Sabah Abu Zanada, the head of the nursing division in the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.
