ACCULTURATION OF MALAYSIA-QUALIFIED NURSES WORKING IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Background: In the presence of an unprecedented rise in healthcare demands, the insufficiency of local nurses precedes the supplementation of the workforce with foreign nurses. Of these, Malaysia-qualified nurses make up the second largest population. With the immense movement of nurses into Singapore, there is a need to ensure that they are properly integrated into the nursing workforce and society in general to ensure optimal well-being for the nurses, as well as efficiency for the organisation and workforce. Although many qualitative studies have been done on acculturation, few have been done in the Asian context. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges faced by Malaysia-qualified nurses in integrating and acculturating into the Singapore nursing workforce and society in general and the ways they adopted to cope with these challenges. It also hopes to discover more ways to help Malaysia-qualified nurses integrate into the working environment in Singapore as well as Singapore society in general. Methods: A descriptive qualitative approach was selected for this study, with individual, face-to-face interviews conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit 13 participants from a tertiary hospital. Thematic analysis was utilised to analysis the data and sort it into themes that were most relevant to the research questions. Results: Three themes were identified: (1) fish out of water (2) helping hand (3) seeing the light; with nine subthemes substantiated with participants’ verbatim quotes. Nurses went through the challenges they faced integrating into Singapore, the help they received and the ways they overcame these challenges. Conclusion: Findings from this study highlighted the unique challenges of Malaysia-qualified nurses and the importance of developing interventions to overcome them.