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Case Reports
. 2020 Dec 4;18(1):98.
doi: 10.1186/s12960-020-00535-2.

Challenges and policy opportunities in nursing in Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Alluhidan  1   2 , Nabiha Tashkandi  3   4 , Fahad Alblowi  5 , Tagwa Omer  6 , Taghred Alghaith  7 , Hussah Alghodaier  7 , Nahar Alazemi  7 , Kate Tulenko  8 , Christopher H Herbst  8 , Mariam M Hamza  8 , Mohammed G Alghamdi  5
Affiliations
Case Reports

Challenges and policy opportunities in nursing in Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Alluhidan et al. Hum Resour Health. .

Abstract

Background: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's (KSA) health sector is undergoing rapid reform in line with the National Transformation Program, as part of Saudi's vision for the future, Vision 2030. From a nursing human resources for health (HRH) perspective, there are challenges of low nursing school capacity, high employment of expatriates, labor market fragmentation, shortage of nurses in rural areas, uneven quality, and gender challenges.

Case presentation: This case study summarizes Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) and Saudi Health Council's (SHCs) evaluation of the current challenges facing the nursing profession in the KSA. We propose policy interventions to support the transformation of nursing into a profession that contributes to efficient, high-quality healthcare for every Saudi citizen. Key to the success of modernizing the Saudi workforce will be an improved pipeline of nurses that leads from middle and high school to nursing school; followed by a diverse career path that includes postgraduate education. To retain nurses in the profession, there are opportunities to make nursing practice more attractive and family friendly. Interventions include reducing shift length, redesigning the nursing team to add more allied health workers, and introducing locum tenens staffing to balance work-load. There are opportunities to modernize existing nurse postgraduate education, open new postgraduate programs in nursing, and create new positions and career paths for nurses such as telenursing, informatics, and quality. Rural pipelines should be created, with incentives and increased compensation packages for underserved areas.

Conclusions: Critical to these proposed reforms is the collaboration of the MOH with partners across the healthcare system, particularly the private sector. Human resources planning should be sector-wide and nursing leadership should be strengthened at all levels.

Keywords: Efficiency; Health workforce; Human Resources for Health; Innovation; Nurse; Productivity; Quality; Reform; Saudi Arabia; Turnover.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, 2018 (or latest year), by country. For KSA, the figure shows all nurses, and nurses with Saudi citizenship [–6]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Nursing graduates per 100,000 inhabitants, 2018 (or latest year) [4, 9]. OECD data are for 2015 or most recent year; KSA data are for 2018
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Number of Nurses in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by gender and nationality 2016–2018 [5]
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Number of Saudi and non-Saudi nurses classified as specialists, 2013–2017 [9]
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Number of Saudi nurses by education level [14]
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Number of nurses employed, by nationality and sector, 2016–2018 [5]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Al-Hanawi MK, Khan SA, Al-Borie HM. Healthcare human resource development in Saudi Arabia: emerging challenges and opportunities—a critical review. Public Health Rev. 2019;40:1. doi: 10.1186/s40985-019-0112-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. United Nations: World population by 2300 (division Doeasap ed. New York; 2004.
    1. Government of Saudi Arabia: Vision 2030 (Office VR ed. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2016.
    1. OECD: Health at a Glance 2017: OECD Indicators. Paris, France: OECD Publishing; 2017.
    1. Ministry of Health: Statistical Yearbook. (Health Mo ed. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2018.

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