Sailing on Open Waters: Experiences of Cruise Ship Nurses

Cruise ship nursing is a type of nursing specialization closely related to occupational health nursing. This novel type study’s primary purpose is to discover the daily perceptions and experiences felt by these nurses. Five themes emerged on this study which are the following: the reasons they chose this job, the benefits of the job, the challenges faced, the fears in their line of work, and their realizations. The study used qualitative research method using an unstructured interview anchored on the theory of Novice to Expert Model, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, Incentive Theory and Folkman's Goodness of Fit Theory. Non-Listed Based Random Sampling was used to identify the participants using Facebook. The study had 7 participants which are all Filipinos working from different cruise liners around the world which had met all the criteria to become participants. Their responses were analyzed through Mearleu-Ponty Phenomenology. The study revealed that the pay is high among the participants and the perks and benefits working as a cruise ship nurse is undeniable. Although, the downside of working as a cruise ship nurse is that the participants had to endure long working hours and almost no day off at all which causes them to be stressed and have burnouts. Due to the challenges, each of them employs coping mechanisms to alleviate their situation. This study recommends more research to be conducted to further validate the experiences of other nurses working in the cruise ship industry.