Nurses originally from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) practicing in the U.S. face challenges including credentialing delays, cultural adaptation, communication barriers, and systemic bias—despite bringing valuable global experience and multilingual skills.

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Here’s a detailed breakdown of the most significant issues:

🧾 1. Licensure and Credentialing Barriers

• Verification of UAE nursing education through CGFNS and passing the NCLEX-RN are mandatory, but transcript evaluation and VisaScreen certification can be slow and costly.

• Scope-of-practice differences may require UAE nurses to retrain or adjust to narrower clinical roles than they held in their home country.

🗣️ 2. Language and Communication Challenges

• While English is widely used in UAE healthcare, U.S. medical slang, idioms, and patient-centered communication styles can be difficult to master.

• Accent bias and nonverbal misinterpretation may affect patient trust and team dynamics, even when nurses are fully competent.

🌍 3. Cultural and Professional Adaptation

• UAE nurses often come from hierarchical, multicultural healthcare systems, and must adapt to the autonomy-driven, interdisciplinary U.S. model.

• Documentation standards, patient autonomy, and technology use in U.S. hospitals may differ significantly from UAE norms.

💔 4. Emotional and Social Strain

• Migration stress includes separation from family, cultural dislocation, and pressure to succeed in a new system.

• Nurses may experience identity conflict, balancing Emirati values with American workplace expectations.

🚧 5. Discrimination and Underrepresentation

• UAE nurses may face racial, ethnic, or religious bias, especially if they wear traditional attire or speak with a distinct accent.

• Few Emirati mentors or leaders exist in U.S. nursing, limiting access to culturally attuned guidance and advocacy.

🤝 6. Limited Institutional Support

• Orientation programs vary: some hospitals offer robust onboarding, while others leave internationally educated nurses (IENs) to “sink or swim.”

• Cultural competence training for U.S. staff is often lacking, which can lead to misunderstandings and workplace tension.

These challenges mirror those faced by many migrant healthcare workers, but UAE nurses often navigate additional layers of cultural complexity due to their unique healthcare background and sociopolitical context.