Shaika Al Thani’s Major Project: Designing support systems for a multicultural community of nurses

Designing support systems for a multicultural community of nurses

Research collaboration with Hamad General Hospital Emergency and Trauma Department, Qatar.

My project focuses on improving the staff experience at Hamad General Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Department in Qatar. During my initial research, I uncovered a need to enhance the multicultural environment for nurses. The majority of nurses come from outside the country, which can create a number of cultural and language barriers that can affect teamwork. It can also impact patient care since many of the patients come from the Arab community and international nurses lack the confidence to interact with them due to inadequate understanding of the community’s cultural and religious characteristics.

I took this opportunity to not only tear down these barriers but also to encourage information exchange in order to better equip nurses working in the ER.

Dar AlHudana is a service offering an informal space and childcare facilities in which nurses can connect with one another in a stress-free environment, exchanging knowledge, skills, and experience by participating in a range of social gatherings. These gatherings are designed to improve their emotional well-being as well as enhance their ability to interact amongst themselves and with the patients in their care. Given the smaller number of nurses at the department, the primary tool will be an ‘event board’, where social gatherings will be promoted and where nurses can either create or sign up for social events. This is closely connected with a nursery offering day care services to the hospital staff’s children which can be easily accessed during breaks and before or after their shifts.

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