Zainab2012

You can go this link Saudi Arabia Healthcare and Nursing Jobs - Helen Ziegler and make sure to look at the different cities )Dammam, Dhahran, Jeddah and Riyadh). Riyadh is the most restricted area for some one who came from a very open country as the US, while other cities are more open.

I am a saudi nurse. I agree that many of what u mentioned are true especially regarding th eRoyal family. However, i have to correct some information. Wearing Burka is not mandatory in all reagion in Saudi Arabia even for Saud women. wearing Abaia though is necessary in most of them. Burka is the cover of the face, while Abaia is like a long dress that cover from shoulders down to the end of legs. However, in some cities, foreigners are walking everywhere without that dress but they should wear decent clothes. in eastern reagions such as Khubar, u will find hundreds of Americans and western people walking everywhere without wearing those things but with their ordinary clothes. Also in wetern province especially in Jedda , which is very close to Egypt, more freadom and no restrections even for Saudi women. In the center, there is more restriction and those religious people or (police) may interfere if they saw a women with a strange man or wearing inappropriate clothes. Something worth to say loudly here is about the Saudi nurses. I am not defending myself but I am telling the truth and how the nursing profession has improved in the latest years. We used to have diploma graduated nurses in the past. However, in the latest 10 or so years, we have many Baccaluriate degree nurses who study 4 years in college and then spend one year of internship before they be accepted to work as nurses. I studied in King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for health sciences and the books I studied are the same as the books that are available here in the US. Lippincott, Mosby and others. Our educational syatem in this college is similar to the A,erican system and we studied in English language. After graduation, I spent 1 year of internship then another 6 months of residency program to be qualified to work in ICU. I worked in military hospital. The rules and regulations were very strict. no delay, no abcence. u have to handle several patients and do all your work exactly the same as any other foreign nurse. After 6 months, i had to be a team leader and be responsible for the units in some days as assigned by the charge nurse. Most of the days, i didin't even have time to sit for few minutes especially when we have many admission and dischrges in few hours. I dmitt that there are lazy nurses but this is everywhere not only in this place of the world. However, the change i have noticed over the latest years is dramatic. Nurses are working 12 hrs shifts day or nights and the rules are applied to everyone. In case of any thing wrong happens, u must fill in an incident report and be penalized. If it is a seriouse error, u might lose your job. This is what I 've learned from my experience. The new generation of nurses especially the ones who have BSN are more qualified in terms of knowledge and skills. This is not based on statistics or anything, but this is my opinion. There are some negative things, but there is also some positives. My advice before going to aycountry is to read about their culture from more than one resource. I am a Saudi nurse and I am a graduate student now at one of the most respectful school of nursing in the US, University of Pennsylvania. Do u still think Sudi nurses are lazy? if yes, how could I be approved for admission in such school? ...I just want to say, do not judge based on one experience and do not stereotype.. There are always some different stories.

This is not true, at least not in all reagions in Saudi Arabia. I am a Saudi nurse and I know how is the situation there. If you work in eastern or western reagion, there is more freedom. In the center, they are more restricted. In eastern region where I work, nurses from everywhere are working here and they have freedom more than us. they should wear decent clothes but they are not forced to cover their hairs or their faces especially in Dhahran. They can't drive cars, but they can go to any Shopping center or malls for shopping. It is not ture that u have to have a male with u to shop anything. U can buy anything u want from any store. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted since they are prohibitted in Islam. Also, u can't touch any male in front of people if he is not from your relatives. Touching patients though is socially acceptable from non muslims nurse but you should also consider the cultural view of the individuals. some patients don't like that, and some are don't mind. in hospital there is more freadome and foreign nurses are the majority in Saudi hospital, therefore, I don't think any one would feel herself as starnger. Thats what I really know and what I am sure about. Don't generalize an idea from someone to all reagions in Saudi Arabia because this country is large and has many diffrenent backgrounds.