Abstract:
This qualitative research aims to narrate the working experiences of Thai nurses who have been working in 12 tertiary hospitals in 7 states in the United States of America. Purposeful sampling and snowball sampling was used to recruit the participants who are registered nurses with at least 2 years of working experience, and were willing to participate in the study. The data was collected from 12 participants by in-depth interviews which were audio-recorded and later transcribed for content analysis. The findings of this study showed that the Thai nurses working experiences in the United States of America could be divided into 2 phases. During the pre-work period, there were two themes ; 1) the main reasons for their decision made to work abroad which include 1.1) the desire for higher payment, 1.2) creating family financial security, 1.3) making progress in life and gaining new experiences in a developed country, 1.4) feeling dissatisfied with an old working system and 1.5) the desire for a complete married life and 2) regarding the preparation processes, it involves 2.1) English preparation 2.2) taking the nursing license examination, and 2.3) preparation for working and living abroad. Throughout the post-work phases, five themes of were emerged ; 1) proving ones worth during a probationary period 2) working professionally and keeping up with high standards 3) adjusting to work and life abroad 4) making it worthwhile in terms of both career progress and income, and 5) taking pride in being a nurse. The research findings can be used as lessons and guidelines for nurses who interest to work abroad. In addition, administrators can use the data obtained in this study to develop a professional operating work system which grants privileges and promotes nurses to receive suitable income based on their knowledge, expertise and capability