Cohesion challenges in a multicultural team : a descriptive qualitative study in a Cardiac Centre of a designated hospital in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The World Health Organization predicts a global shortage of 5.7 million nurses by 2030. Many public and private healthcare services will experience shortages globally and will have to recruit nurses from other countries. Foreign nurses’ poor understanding of their colleagues’ and patients’ cultural backgrounds may contribute to the teams’ challenges to deliver quality care and promote team cohesion. METHODS The researcher opted to use a descriptive qualitative design, and the preferred data collection method was individual face-to-face interviews to explore and understand the participants’ perceptions of the cohesion challenges that their multicultural nursing team experienced. The researcher led the interviews with the open-ended question, ‘What cohesion challenges does the multicultural nursing team of the cardiac centre experience, and what support should they get from management to overcome these challenges?’ and also used probing questions that guided the participants’ responses to enable a deeper understanding of their experiences. The interviews were audio-recorded as permitted by the participants. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS Six categories with subcategories emerged. Cohesion in a multicultural nursing team requires good communication, the inclusion of all nurses in decision making, the prioritising of nurses’ needs by managers and the need for meaningful team-building events. The participants highlighted a need to be given the opportunity to share their experiences and for the nurses to know and understand the benefits of multicultural teams. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION The study recommends a need for cultural competence training, effective communication practices and salary reviews that may encourage team cohesion.