Two years ago I finally reached a point in my life where I could join the ranks of traveling nurses. I signed up with an agency and began my first assignment just in time to watch the market dry up. Nursing went from being a guaranteed job in any field to being as few and far between any other job in a desperate economy.
That’s when I knew I needed a change. I explored options outside of both the US and nursing, all of them with an adventurous twist like teaching English in Paris or joining the Peace Corps. Then, I stumbled on nursing in Saudi Arabia. This tax-free job paid well, the 54 days of vacation time sounded amazing, and I wanted something very different from life as I knew it. Of all the options, Saudi Arabia sounded like the best.
I arrived in Riyadh six months ago. So far, my actual nursing job is much easier than anything found in the US, but working here can be equally taxing. Nearly all of the patients speak little to no English, and what would be an overnight stay in the US can last an entire week. The hospital claims to be American, but as far as I can tell, only the equipment and charting system resemble an American hospital. One of the most foreign concepts I encountered was VIP status. Patients who have more money, social status, or hold a royal title get fancy VIP perks: rooms, food, furniture and occasionally even doctors. For someone who is used to all patients being treated as equally as possible, this took some getting used to.
I noticed a gentler approach to what is expected from medical care, both for providers and patients. Lawsuits are extremely uncommon here, and I have yet to see a patient come in with a stack of information on their condition to guide their own medical care like I often saw in the US. By that same token of less being expected from patients, I often laugh as my diabetic patients offer me dates or a chocolate from a large pedestal of sweets. They patiently listen to my broken Arabic, and expect me to patiently wait for them to finish praying before they go for a procedure. The urgency experienced in the US for anything rarely shows up here, which can sometimes be frustrating when you want them to take pills when they're assigned but they want to wait until their next meal. The hospital doesn't seem to mind the lack of urgency, either. They don't have the same rush to turn over a bed, and no one seems to mind if a patient refuses to be discharged over something as simple as a family member being unable to pick them up that day.
The job itself was a bit of a culture shock, but nothing compared to life outside of the hospital! The culture and lifestyle provide plenty of anecdotal benefits, and trying to overcome a language barrier can be challenging. Living under strictly enforced Islamic standards, the dress code can be frustrating at times, particularly for women. Women aren’t allowed to drive here, and going out in public with an unrelated male can buy you a one-way ticket back home. Anything relating to customer service is a lesson in patience, and being obviously stared at by grown men made me uneasy at first.
Life on the hospital compound resembles a university setting: no one has a car, everyone misses their family, computers and cell phones take up a big part of life, and there are always plenty of social activities going on if you want to participate. Like a college campus, housing complexes take up a large portion of the hospital’s real estate. During orientation, I met a whole bunch of people from around the world, then settled into my social niche. All the female staff nurses come under a “single” status, meaning that families aren’t welcome in this environment as most people share a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with a roommate.
Aside from the adventure of living in another country in a completely different culture, Saudi Arabia is fantastic for exploring a region of the world that’s far, far away from the US. It’s a short plane ride to India, Egypt, Russia and a number of other places that make a traveler’s eyes light up. Having plenty of vacation days sweetens the deal of working over here.
The experiences here leave me with a newfound sympathy and admiration for anyone brave enough to move to another country. I enjoy the adventure and challenge, and I know I’ll never regret the time I’ve spent living here.
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