Assessing the preparedness of Saudi nursing graduates for practice

Abstract

Background: The Saudi government is currently pursuing the development of a qualified and appropriate Saudi nursing workforce through higher education preparation programmes. The addition of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN programmes at new universities throughout the country was part of this strategy. However, it has been speculated that the rapid expansion of the new universities has resulted in inadequate educational and training facilities. However, the products of the new implemented universities not yet robustly investigated. The existing literature suggests that Saudi nurses graduating from both old and new universities are insufficiently prepared for clinical practice, while a number of international studies have argued that graduates’ competence can be influenced by high school background, along with education and training facilities. The characteristics of established and new universities differ in terms of the training facilities offered, and the type of students admitted.

Aim: The aim of this research project is to assess the preparedness of Saudi nursing graduates for practice, following the expansion of nursing education in the Saudi higher education sector, with a particular focus on competence and knowledge. This was achieved by pursuing the following objectives: (1) assessing how nursing graduates from Saudi Arabian Universities performed in the knowledge test, and how they self-rated themselves in a self assessment of competence at the point of graduation. (2) Investigating and comparing the differences between graduates from established and new Saudi Arabian Universities in terms of performance on a knowledge test and self-assessment of competence. (3) Comparing the differences between graduates from established and new Saudi Arabian Universities in terms of knowledge test performance and self-assessment competence when background is controlled.

Result: The initial results showed that the total mean score for all participants on their selfassessment of competence was 3 out of 4, whereas the total mean score on the knowledge test was just 26.6%. There were no statistically significant differences between the graduates of established universities and new universities in relation to their total mean self-assessment of competence scores. The total mean score for the self-assessment of competence for established universities was (Mean = 3.0) and for the new universities (Mean = 3.0), p = .405. Graduates of the established universities achieved higher knowledge test scores (Mean = 28%) compared with the graduates of new universities (Mean = 25 %.), p value = 008

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ORCID for Peter Griffiths: orcid.org/0000-0003-2439-2857

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