Behavioral Differences of Japanese and Indonesian nurses under Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) for Solving Oriented Problems in Nursing Practice / 国際保健医療

ABSTRACT

Objective  In Japan, the low pass rate of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) foreign nurse candidates in the National Nursing Examination is a serious issue because it suggests differences in nursing practice between the countries. This study aimed to reveal the discrepancy in nursing practice between Indonesian and Japanese nurses.Methods   Questionnaires were sent to 9 hospitals to collect data from Indonesian and Japanese nurses working together. It included the “Self-evaluation Scale on Oriented Problem Solving Behavior in Nursing Practice” to measure the quality of problem-solving behaviors.Results  Participants were 17 Indonesian (8 males, 9 females; average age: 30.6 years) and 50 Japanese nurses. Of them, 9 Indonesian nurses had not passed the National Nursing Exam. No remarkable difference was observed between the Indonesian and Japanese nurses on any of the sub-scales of the problem-solving scale. However, after matching the groups with nursing experience years (by selecting Japanese nurses with an experience of less than 10 years, n＝22), a notable difference was observed in “Securing consent from the patient for providing nursing care,” with Indonesian nurses who had not yet passed the National Nursing Exam scoring significantly lower than Japanese nurses (p＝0.01 for the Wilcoxon test with Bonferroni correction). While Japanese nurses assist patients with activities of daily living, the patient’s family is mainly responsible for such care in Indonesia. Therefore, Indonesian nurses do not fully acknowledge their need to secure consent in providing daily life assistance to patients.Conclusion   Indonesian nurses who had not passed the National Nursing Exam scored significantly lower on “Securing consent from the patient for providing nursing care.” Therefore, it is recommended to provide them education to enable them to recognize the importance of practicing nursing based on nursing plans that consider patients’ needs.