Bahrain – Garden of Eden
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Nursing is a career you can do anywhere these days. Patient care doesn’t change all that much from hospital to hospital and patients are basically the same wherever you go. There are amazing opportunities all over the world and Czech nurses can now add the island country of Bahrain to their list of top work destinations. Bahrain is a small country in the Middle East where the modern world has mixed effortlessly with the traditions of the Arab world. And the opportunities the nursing world offers in Bahrain are almost unbelievable.
I spent three weeks in Bahrain working at the Al Khalifa Cardiac Center. My mission was to assist with making the transition for the first group of Czech/Slovak nurses to ever work in Bahrain easy. I observed the staff, I spent time talking with the nurse managers in almost every department and poured over their policies and procedures. The hospital is well organized and the standards are very much in tune with those in the UK and the US. The nursing staff is diverse; I had the opportunity to meet Bahraini nurses as well as nurses from India, the Philippines, Malaysia, the UK, and South Africa. Most of the foreign nurses I met arrived more than five years ago and are still there. Many have even moved their families to Bahrain and plan on staying long term. The nurses work quite independently and use their critical thinking skills all day, every day. The nurses are very well educated and continually attend “study days” where they keep up with their skills as well as learn new skills that they then take back to their units and put into practice. The nurses and physicians seemed to work as a team and the management seemed to be extremely helpful and ready to assist and guide their staff whenever needed.
The Bahraini people are some of the most welcoming people I have ever met. I was greeted by representatives of the hospital upon arrival to the airport in Bahrain and from that moment on, I was treated by every Bahraini as a personal guest of theirs and their country. They consistently go out of their way to make people feel welcome. Bahrain is also a country where men and women are free to do what they choose. There are no restrictions that prevent women from being independent and the culture has evolved into one of great acceptance and tolerance of those who are different as well.
There is a lot of sunshine in Bahrain. The temperatures reached 35 degrees Celsius in March and I heard it can go as high as 50 degrees in midsummer. The heat is dry and, at 35 degrees, was easily tolerable for someone who has been living in Prague for two years. There are palm trees and flowers spread throughout the country and the sea is everywhere. There are sights to be seen in Bahrain and there is something for everyone. There are the deserts, the big city, the suburbs and the beaches. There are more than enough shopping malls for the shopaholics, there are beach resorts for the beach bums, countless top notch restaurants and local eateries for the foodies, pubs and nightclubs for the night owls and then, there is, of course, the Formula One racetrack for all the car racing fans out there. For those who are eager to learn more about the Bahraini culture, there are a few great museums, numerous mosques, the local souks, 19th century military forts and the Tree of Life in the desert.
Nursing is a profession where we are continually growing professionally. Most nurses are not content to stay stagnant in a career with so many local different choices available. Nursing abroad can be an even more rewarding opportunity to spread your wings, expand your knowledge base, perfect your language skills and experience a new and exciting culture. Whether you choose to stay one year or ten years, there are innumerable benefits to choosing to work as a nurse abroad in any country. Bahrain is said to be the possible site of the biblical “Garden of Eden” and I think they just might be right.
Jennifer Granger, RN, BSN - G5 Plus Consultant & Trainer