Hi there,
I am a recent addition to King Faisel-Jeddah, the sister hospital to the Riyadh facility. I do not know anything first hand about Riyadh but I can fill you in on what it is like here. I am a male paramedic, so I do not work on the floors, but I have gone through the nursing and critical care orientation programs here, so I have a good idea of what life is like in the other units. My overall impression thus far is that the administration here is genuinely concerned with staff retension and satisfaction. They have a "magnet program" in place and they are very proactive recarding employee satisfaction.
The ED is relatively low key as we attend mostly private clients and Royal Family members here, but overall the nursing staff seem very content and nobody is overworked. They provide very good equipment and CE and they are focused on evidence based therapies. There are some weak areas, but those are quickly identified and there are planse to correct them. The hospital is undergoing an expansion, from about 300 beds to over 800 over the next two years and there will be huge opportunities for work and advancement. The staff in the hospital are largely Philippino and Indian (67%) and only about 6% Western European/North American, but the language of the hospital is officially English and there is a great deal of effort placed on cultural sensativity and awareness. People seem to get along quite well.
I have only been here a few weeks and I am still aclimating, but I find Jeddah to be very easy to relate to. It is on the Red Sea and the diving here is supposed to be world class (I will find out once I get my Iquama). The women I have spoken with are very happy with their situation here. In jeddah single men and women are separated on the compound of course, but we are all given private studio apartments that are quite comfortable. There is bus service, clean swimming pools, gyms, etc and other than some of the kids acting like jerks in the family section, everything is very mellow here.
AI went through a recruiter to get my position here and they were FANTASTIC! They specialize in nursing candidates and they are very helpful and well informed. You can reach them at Helen Ziegler & Associates at .
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Mike