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Aim: This paper is part of a larger doctoral study that investigated the impact of nationality on the job satisfaction of nurses and their intentions to leave Saudi Arabian government hospitals. The paper aims to gain an understanding of the impact of expatriate status on nurses' perceptions, by comparing the factors that influence job satisfaction among Saudi nurses to those that affect nurses recruited from other countries. Background: Job satisfaction is a known predictor of nurse retention. Although there is a broad understanding of the factors that affect job satisfaction, little is known about how these vary between home and expatriate nurses working in countries which rely on a multicultural migrant workforce. Methods: A descriptive qualitative approach was taken, in which 26 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with nurses selected from different nationalities, all of whom were working in Saudi Arabian hospitals. Eight participants were Saudi Arabian, six Filipino, four Indian, four South African, two Jordanian and two Malaysian. Findings: Five themes were identified that differentiated the perceptions of expatriates regarding their job satisfaction from those of the home nurses: separation from family, language and communication, fairness of remuneration, moving into the future and professionalism. Conclusion: Focusing on the enhancement of job satisfaction experienced by expatriate nurses can result in a healthier work environment and greater retention of these nurses. Implications for nursing and nursing policy: To enhance nurse retention, policy makers in countries with migrant nurses should address their socio‐economic needs. This includes providing both greater access to their dependent family members, and language lessons and cultural orientation to reduce linguistic and cultural challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GOBBI M. Nursing Inquiry 2005; 12: 117 –125 Nursing practice as bricoleur activity: a concept explored The debates concerning the nature of nursing practice are often rooted in tensions between artistic, scientific and magical/mythical practice. It is within this context that the case is argued for considering that nursing practice involves bricoleur activity. This stance, which is derived from the work of Levi-Strauss, conceives elements of nursing practice as an embodied, bricoleur practice where practitioners draw on the‘shards and fragments’ of the situation-at-hand to resolve the needs of the individual patient for whom they care. This conceptualisation of nursing practice will be analysed with a particular emphasis on its implication for nursing epistemology, pedagogy and praxis. The evidence to support this argument is drawn from empirical work that investigated nurses’ use of intuition, the work of Levi-Strauss, and issues in nursing epistemology and ontology. The paper itself is written from the perspective of a bricoleur who uses‘bits and pieces’ from the domains of nursing, philosophy, psychology, education, sociology and anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to investigate the process of reflection in professional nurse education and the part it played in a teaching and learning context. The research focused on the social construction of reflection within a post-registration, palliative care programme, accessed by nurses, in the United Kingdom (UK). Through an interpretive ethnographic approach, the organisational, contextual and cultural issues impacting upon teaching and learning interactions, and the use of reflection therein were explored with student and nurse educator participants. Data were collected from observations of teaching and learning, interviews, and extracts from programme documentation and reflective learning contracts (RLCs). Findings contribute new empirical knowledge regarding the process of teaching and learning about reflection, including educator and clinical supervisor facilitation, the emotional work involved in reflection and methods of ‘mapping’ and ‘modelling’ to support reflection. The influence of both higher education and practice partner organisations on the use of reflection is also evident and indicates that professional reflective education requires institutional support from both education and practice. Specific findings in this paper are pertinent and transferable to other disciplines, where reflective education is used to develop being critical in order to learn through experience. This research offers valuable insights into the realities of reflective education and has currency for educators committed to developing skills for reflection and learning through experience for students, through the generation of a reflective culture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]