A development model for nursing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

N education in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) goes back to 1958 when the first formal education for nurses was initiated as a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organization.1 For many years, the MoH conducted formal education for nurses at 2 levels: post intermediate school nursing institutes graduating diploma nurses after 3 years of studies and postsecondary school nursing colleges graduating diploma nurses but considered as a higher level of diploma holders. In a trial, to overcome the difficulties and criticism of the organization of these 2 levels of programs conducted in non-traditional academic organizations, the nursing colleges and institutes moved to become under the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE).2,3 This movement resulted in closing the institutes and maintaining the colleges under universities. However, universities were not well prepared to take over such colleges and many academicians perceive such colleges as lacking proper academic structure and organization. In a trial to make the best use of such movement, universities benefited from budgets allocated to such colleges and institutes without really paying much attention to the development of these new comers and their projected outcomes. Under the new arrangement, nursing colleges lost the MoH control and support, and could not gain the deserved support and attention of the academic universities due to the initial gap in planning a solid infrastructure to adopt such programs. This situation was compounded by a recent decision from the MoH to consider only “Baccalaureate holder” nurses for employment. Such a decision, disappointed graduates of institutes and colleges of nursing, raised another challenge of what to do with thousands diploma holders’ graduates. Fortunately, under the pressure of reality in the ground to accommodate them and insufficiency of baccalaureate holder nurses, the MoH reversed its decision and started to accept thousands of diploma graduates for employment. This back and forth swinging of decisions created major challenges for the MoH and other receiving organizations for such diploma holders for a number of reasons. First, the concern on the quality of education and training in these colleges was not sorted out completely; second, there are not enough budgeted positions to accommodate diploma holders’ graduates; third, most of them are not utilized or developed for clear purposes; and most of the employing health care organizations opt for expatriate Baccalaureate holder nurses to fit hospital based purposes. From the above, one may claim a failure of our educational, organizational, and social structure to make the best use of our valuable emerging nursing work force.4 To blame graduates of nursing programs for this failure in strategic planning is a typical victimblaming. Thus, it is timely appropriate to stop and reflect at this serious human resources problem to avoid further damage and waste of a valuable nursing work force in KSA. A strategy that addresses current situation of Saudi nurses and projects future needs should be developed taking in consideration their present and future roles and services. A developmental model that takes into consideration, current issues and future aspirations is an essential step towards a comprehensive strategy for the nursing workforce in KSA. This paper proposes a basic and practical model for our nurses in facing the most important workforces in any health care system. The objective is to stimulate scientific discussion among healthcare professionals and decision makers to Brief Communication