The problems and solutions for the current shortage in nurses in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Saudi Healthcare System 17 Limitation of the study 18 Chapter 4 18 Discussion 18 Conclusion: 20 Reference 22 Abstract: The purpose of this project is to identify problems and solutions to the nursing shortage in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the project investigates the effect of foreign workers in the country who work towards addressing this issue. Furthermore, the project investigates the plans that aim at increasing the number of Saudis to work in this profession. In addition, the project measures the impact of nursing shortages on the quality of health services. The key finding was that the country witnessed a high number of foreigners working as nurses. Among the issues contributing to this high number of foreigners are the lack of health colleges, lack of awareness among the community about the importance of nursing, and the weak role of the media in highlighting this issue. Additionally, many high school students do not show any interest in enrolling in the nursing profession in future. Moreover, the nursing workload and lack of flexibility in nursing work times promotes the low number of nurses. Amongst the proposed solutions, attracting more locals to the profession is fundamental. Other solutions include building more medical colleges and providing flexible work in nursing. In addition, the government should play a major role in solving the problem through training staff and giving them the opportunity to study abroad to obtain the scientific expertise and better work experience. The study found that the nursing shortage has a serious impact on the quality of health services. Hence, it contributed to patient dissatisfaction and deterioration of health services. Chapter 1 Introduction: All over the world, health care systems are in crisis (Paul, et al., 2006). Furthermore, many countries are seeking to develop the quality of health services and enable citizens to get easy access to quality services. In most developed countries, health care systems are struggling to provide the best possibilities so that they can meet the demands of the people. The most common challenge is the lack of healthcare professionals such as doctors and nurses (Paul, et al., 2006). Although some countries may be developed, they still suffer from a shortage of nurses. Walker (2010) called the problem of nursing shortage “a global shortage.” For decades, developing countries have suffered chronic deficits in health-care professionals with the reasons for these deficits lying in the lack of resources, which is in contrast with developed nations, such as the US,’ objective of reducing the recourses in healthcare (Porter and Kaplan, 2011). This results in the lack of training and adequate rehabilitation of sufficient numbers of nurses. In fact, the issue of the shortage of nurses became a global crisis in 2002 with world leaders realizing the need to address the issue (Oulton, 2006). Across Europe, reports indicate a shortage of nurses in almost every European nation (Gathercole, 2003). In the UK, The Times (2001) approximated the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More