Relating Almutairi’s critical cultural competence model for healthcare providers transitioning to Qatar

Abstract

Healthcare providers can be enticed to work in the Middle East due to fascinations with the culture, wealth, and opportunities for personal and professional development. Working in multicultural healthcare environments requires addressing complexities with cultural hierarchies, religion, class systems, and gender. It also requires understanding of the region’s history, as well as knowledge about cultural and social norms. The authors use qualitative accounts, from lived experiences to illuminate their transition to work in Qatar. Upon reflection of their experiences, the authors recommend using a Critical Cultural Competence model as a guide for healthcare providers undergoing transition and longer-term adaptation for promoting cultural safety for healthcare providers and their patients. Some authors of this article have previously published “Recommendations for healthcare providers preparing to work in the Middle East: A Campinha-Bacote cultural competence model approach” (Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 2017). However, after reflecting upon their experiences as nurse educators living in the Middle East, the authors concluded that Almutairi, Dahinten, and Rodney’s (2015) Critical Cultural Competence Model is more suitable for health care providers transitioning to Qatar. This model addresses necessary elements needed to transition to a new culture, but also includes personal narratives and experiences, which maybe helpful to transitioning to work in another culture. Almutairi et al.’s model (2015) reconceptualises and enriches the concept of transitioning to Middle Eastern multicultural contexts. The aim of this paper is to provide recommendations using Almutairi et al.’s Cultural Competence Model to assist healthcare providers in transitioning to work in Qatar. Another aim is to provide guidance for healthcare professional development in multicultural contexts. Discussion as to how the model may foster a more relevant approach will ensue. Experiential knowledge and narratives are threaded throughout the paper to provide a lived account of the use of this Critical Cultural Competence model by healthcare workers, who have transitioned to the Middle East.