Divergent backgrounds, unified goals: continuing education program for multinational nurses in a hospital in the...

This article reports continuing education as one strategy used to resolve the competence issues of multinational nurses working in Saudi Arabia. Four categories of Staff Nurses (I, II, III, and IV), N = 111, recruited from eight countries participated in a study that describes the outcomes of a training session for nurses at one hospital in Dammam. An average of 12 to 13 nurses attended 1-day courses over a 9-day period to address urgent policies and procedures selected from the hospital's guidelines for patient care. Results from pretests and posttests completed by the participants yielded information that echo differences of the nurses in terms of country of origin and possibly educational background, rather than their recruitment status with which the employers determine remuneration and responsibilities. The findings suggest ways to ensure that future nurses derive more benefit, and that recruiters and employers reconsider the criteria used for recruitment and placement.