Barriers to nurse-patient communication in Saudi Arabia: an integrative review

Effective nurse-patient communication is important in improving quality of health care. However, there are several barriers to nurse-patient communication in Saudi Arabia. This is attributed to the increasing number of non-Saudi expatriate nurses providing health care to patients. In particular, there are differences in culture, religion and language among non-Saudi nurses and patients. This integrative review aims to identify and synthesize quantitative and qualitative evidence on the current practice in nurse-patient communication in Saudi Arabia and its effect on service users' quality of care, safety and satisfaction.

An integrative review based on Whittemore and Knafl's approach (Whittemore and Knafl, J Adv Nurs 52:546-553, 2005) was used to conduct the review. Peer-reviewed articles containing any of a series of specific key terms were identified from sources such as CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, PubMed and PsychINFO. The review included studies that focused on nurse-patient communication issues, communication barriers, and cultural and language issues. The search was limited to papers about the Saudi Arabian health system published in English and Arabic languages between 2000 and 2018. A data extraction form was developed to extract information from included articles.

Twenty papers were included in the review (Table 1). Ten papers employed quantitative methods, eight papers used qualitative methods and two used mixed methods. The review revealed two major themes: 'current communication practices' and 'the effect of communication on patients'. Some of the communication practices rely on non-verbal methods due to a lack of a common language, which often results in the meaning of the communication being misinterpreted. Many non-Saudi nurses have limited knowledge about Saudi culture and experience difficulty in understanding, and in some cases respecting, the cultural and religious practices of patients. Further, limited nurse-patient communication impacts negatively on the nurse-patient relationship, which can affect patient safety and lead to poor patient satisfaction.

Current nurse-patient communication practices do not meet the needs of Saudi patients due to cultural, religious and language differences between nurses and patients. The barriers to effective nurse-patient communication adversely effects patient safety and patient satisfaction. Further research from the perspective of the patient and family is needed.