The Competency of Registered Nurses Woking at Thai Hajj Medical Office, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the competency of registered nurses who work for the Thai Hajj Medical Office in Saudi Arabia during the Hajj period using Ethnographic Delphi Future Research (EDFR). Participants were 18 experts in three panels. 1) nine nursing professionals, 2) six healthcare multidisciplinary experts, and 3) three health-related scholars. The research method consisted of three rounds. First, Interview of the experts using 10 open-ended questions, Which had been validated by three experts. The data were analyzed by using content analysis. Second, the same group of experts provided feedback and ranked each item’s significance on 25 closed-ended questions developed from the first-round findings. Data were analyzed using the median and interquartile range statistics. Third, the same group of experts confirmed or adjusted their final decisions opinions on the same set of questions from the second round using median and interquartile range. The consensus was reached by comparing the values of the median and interquartile range from the second and third rounds. The study findings revealed that the competency of registered nurses working at the Thai Medical Office in Saudi Arabia during the Hajj period comprised six components: 1) six items of nursing competencies, 2) three items of competencies related to epidemiology, prevention and infection control, 3) three items of providing information and health counseling competences, 4) four items of leadership, teamwork, morality, and ethics, competencies, 5) three items of communication, co-ordination, and information technology competences, and 6) three items of religious and cultural competences. Nursing administrators and stakeholders of the Thai Medical Office can apply this study’s findings a guideline to develop inclusion criteria to recruit nurses and to develop program of competency preparation for the nursing workforce at the Thai Medical Office, Saudi Arabia. during the Hajj period.