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Background and objective: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently faced many man-made and natural disasters. Since disaster victims are transferred to hospitals, nurses are among the first health care providers to respond to an emergency. Therefore,to improve disaster management it is essential to examine the current state of nurses' preparedness. This study attempts to determine the disaster preparedness of emergency nurses in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study data were collected using two survey tools from the research literature, and 72 participants were recruited from two government hospitals in Riyadh. The response rate was 31.7%. Results: The study revealed that most nurses understood their roles after reading the disaster plan. Although half of the respondents had completed training in the previous 12 months, only 60% answered the item related to confidence after training.There was a significant difference between the confidence of those who had participated in a disaster or mass casualties training program and that of those who had not. Only 26% answered the item related to confidence after being involved in a real disaster,and no significant difference was found between the confidence of those who had attended a real disaster or mass casualties event and that of those who had not. Conclusions: The study found that respondents had minimal and limited disaster experience, as reflected in their low levels of confidence after being involved in real disaster events. This highlights the need for continued efforts to expand disaster training and ensure that nurses are appropriately prepared.

Intellectual Capital (IC) resources such as relational capital, structural capital, and human capital are important factors for success in institutions. Evidence indicates that IC is significant in obtaining a competitive advantage. Current universities are slow to promote and encourage innovation despite the IC resources at their disposal. In Saudi Arabia, no study has investigated the impact of IC on the innovation level in the education context. The purpose of this study was to investigate the main influential factor of intellectual capital that leads to more innovation among faculty members in universities operating in Saudi Arabia. The study used a descriptive research design. A mixed-method was adopted in the research. This included qualitative and quantitative methods. The study population comprised of the faculty members in Saudi Arabia universities. Primary data was collected via survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative research data was used to measure the opinions in the responses provided by respondents surveyed. The independent variables were human capital, structural capital, and social/relational capital. The moderator variables were government Intellectual Capital policies and financial support. The dependent variable was innovation level. Responses from interviews were analyzed qualitatively to help derive key patterns and themes regarding IC and innovation. The quantitative data collected was analyzed using Stata software. The statistical methods employed in the analysis were descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Qualitative data were analysed using Nvivo 12. Based on the quantitative analysis, the study found that the level of intellectual capital affects the innovation level among faculty members. The government policies toward relational capital and the government policies toward structural capital are the most influential components. Additionally, the results from the qualitative analysis revealed that structural capital is the main factor of the Intellectual capital components that has a dominating influence in intellectual capital support. This study contributes to the IC literature, establishing a clear relationship between IC and university innovation level. The findings will help provide recommendations to decision-makers and research stakeholders to support intellectual capital efforts in universities.

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA), 3(2), 2012 ; Often referred as Government to Citizen (G2C) e-government services, many governments around the world are developing and utilizing ICT technologies to provide information and services to their citizens. In Saudi Arabia (KSA) e-government projects have been identified as one of the top government priority areas. However, the adoption of e-government is facing many challenges and barriers including technological, cultural, organizational which must be considered and treated carefully. This paper explores the key factors of user adoption of e-government services through empirical evidence gathered by survey of 460 Saudi citizens including IT department employees from different public sectors. Based on the analysis of data collected the researchers were able to identify some of the important barriers and challenges from these different perspectives. As a result, this study has generated a list of possible recommendations for the public sector and policy-makers to move towards successful adoption of e-government services in Saudi Arabia. ; http://thesai.org/Downloads/Volume3No2/Paper%201%20-%20A%20Comprehensive%20Analysis%20of%20E-government%20services%20adoption%20in%20Saudi%20Arabia%20Obstacle%20and%20Challenges.pdf

More and more governments around the world are introducing e-government as a means of reducing costs, improving services, saving time and increasing effectiveness and efficiency in the public sector Therefore e-government has been identified as one of the top priorities for Saudi government and all its agencies. However, the adoption of e-government is facing many challenges and barriers such as technological, cultural, organizational, and social issues which must be considered and treated carefully by any government contemplating its adoption. This paper reports on a pilot study amongst online (e-ready) citizens to identify the challenges and barriers that affect the adoption of e-government services especially from their perspective in Saudi society. Based on the analysis of data collected from an online survey the researcher was able to identify some of the important barriers and challenges from the e-ready citizen perspective. As a result, this study has generated a list of possible strategies to move towards successful adoption of egovernment services in Saudi Arabia.

This study explores the cross-cultural pragmatic features of apology speech acts generated by Arabic native speakers, English native speakers and advanced Saudi learners of English. The instrument employed for this study was a discourse completion task (DCT). The DCT included eight situations that elicited apologetic responses from 69 participants. Results revealed that Arabic native speakers and Saudi learners of English use apology strategies following a similar order of frequency that differs than English native speakers. Saudis frequently use oaths and use sarcasm instead of apology, or accompanied by apology, in their responses. Saudi learners of English are influenced by their Arabic culture, which leads to efficient communication at times while interfering with it at others.

INTRODUCTION: In order to allocate resources in an effective manner, emergency medical services (EMS) systems use dispatch-based triaging to prioritise patients by acuity. Over-triage, wherein patients are assigned a higher priority level than necessary, can serve as a safety measure. However, it places strain on EMS systems, a problem believed to be experienced by South Africa's Western Cape Government EMS system, with almost half of its calls designated at the highest priority level. To begin improving dispatch within WCG EMS, we aimed to describe the current system by identifying the most common conditions dispatched, and those most perceived to be suffering from over-triage. METHODS: A multi-methods approach was taken: First, a quantitative chart review was used to analyse all calls assigned a dispatch priority by WCG EMS between December 2016 and November 2017. These descriptive data then informed qualitative focus groups to further investigate emergency medical dispatch (EMD). Three focus groups were conducted, each with a convenience sample of staff from: WCG EMS staff, call takers/dispatchers, and call centre managers. Data were reviewed and coded, after which the lead researcher aggregated coded transcripts and conducted thematic content analysis. RESULTS: Seventy-nine condition categories were identified from 649,544 completed patient records for the study period. Non-specific pain accounted for the greatest proportion of dispatched complaints (16.88%), followed by assault with a weapon (10.00%) and respiratory complaints (9.71%). Sixteen WCG EMS personnel took part in focus groups, highlighting challenges of the current EMD system, including time constraints, legal risks, communication, overuse of the system, and lack of training. Chest pain, collapsed/unresponsive patients, and vomiting and diarrhoea were frequently noted to be potentially over-triaged conditions. To improve this, participants suggested trainings, modifications to the electronic EMD system, additional protocols, and public education. ...