Distinctive Featur
Distinctive Features of the Professional Nursing Practice Environment As Perceived By Bachelor Nursing Students and Nurses at University of Dammam – Saudi Arabia
Dr. Sana A. Al-Mahmoud
University of Dammam – College of Nursing, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Abstract: Although the Saudi Arabian society is considered to be protective, and a traditional society with many obstacles when woman employment in question; the nursing profession is considered a female-profession. In the kingdom of Saudi Arabia nursing is one of the fast growing fields. As more numbers of students enrolling for studying nursing, more emphasis is given to nursing as a career and during the score of the academic study. One aspect for studying the phenomenon of increasing Saudi female students in the field of nursing is a quantitative study of their perception of the practice environment of nursing. Expectations in general determine the amount of involvement and the amount of effort applied from the side of the employee (the nurse). This study, points upon the expectations of the nurses regarding the environment where they will practice their career. The study is an analysis of the responses provided by senior nursing students and the nurses doing their field training on an eight-parts questioner, The questionnaire collected the nurses’ responses and feelings regarding; the philosophy of clinical care, nurses knowledge, promotion of lead nurses, nurses participation in decision making, clinical development, professional development, teams collaboration and technology utilization. On every part of the aforementioned aspects, a group of questions in the form of assuring sentence and five options starting from strongly agree to strongly disagree format was used. And the responses on the 39 questions were analyzed using SPSS. Generally positive attitude towards the practice environment of nursing and career was shown, however, in some specific points related to nursing practice the results showed some disagreement. The study assured that nursing is a favorable career path, because its environment offers positive opportunities, services and human interaction, technologies and chances for development and the quality of human relationships.
[Sana A. Al-Mahmoud. Distinctive Features of the Professional Nursing Practice Environment As Perceived By Bachelor Nursing Students and Nurses at University of Dammam – Saudi Arabia. Life Sci J2013;10(1):2096-2106] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 7
Keywords: Nursing Practice, Saudi Arabia, Quality Assurance in Nursing, Nursing Human Resource, Nursing Students, hallmark.