Nurse education

Staffing

Government (linguistics)

CINAHL

Political science

Workforce planning

Workforce

Expatriate

Medicine

Nursing

Psychological intervention

Nursing shortage

Linguistics

Philosophy

Health care

International Nursing Review

Aim To investigate the nursing shortage in Saudi Arabia and specifically the shortage of Saudi nurses in the healthcare workforce and to propose solutions. Methods Literature published from 1993 to 2013 providing relevant information on the nursing shortage, cultural traditions and beliefs, and nursing education and policies in Saudi was accessed from multiple sources including Medline, CINAHL Plus and Google Scholar and from official Saudi government document and was reviewed. Results Saudi Arabia depends largely on an expatriate workforce, and this applies to nursing. Saudi Arabia is experiencing a nursing shortage in common with most countries in the world and a shortage of Saudi nationals, especially women, in the healthcare workforce. The world shortage of nursing is extrinsic to Saudi, but intrinsic factors include a poor image of the nursing profession in the country that is exacerbated by cultural factors. Conclusions/implications With the call for the Saudization of the workforce to replace the impor...

Strategies to address the nursing shortage in Saudi Arabia