title: Understanding cultural competence in a multicultural nursing workforce: registered nurses' experience in Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In Saudi Arabia, the health system is mainly staffed by expatriate nurses from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Given the potential risks this situation poses for patient care, it is important to understand how cultural diversity can be effectively managed in this multicultural environment. The purpose of this study was to explore notions of cultural competence with non-Saudi Arabian nurses working in a major hospital in Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Face-to-face, audio-recorded, semistructured interviews were conducted with 24 non-Saudi Arabian nurses. Deductive data collection and analysis were undertaken drawing on Campinha-Bacote's cultural competence model. The data that could not be explained by this model were coded and analyzed inductively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nurses within this culturally diverse environment struggled with the notion of cultural competence in terms of each other's cultural expectations and those of the dominant Saudi culture.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study also addressed the limitations of Campinha-Bacote's model, which did not account for all of the nurses' experiences. Subsequent inductive analysis yielded important themes that more fully explained the nurses' experiences in this environment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings can inform policy, professional education, and practice in the multicultural Saudi setting.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre, and King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Adel.Almutairi@nursing.ubc.ca almutairiAd1@ngha.med.sa.
authors.forename: Adel F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Almutairi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Glenn E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Gardner
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000523:psychology*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012529:Saudi Arabia
keywords: cultural competence; multicultural nursing workforce; qualitative analysis