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Expand nurses’ roles to meet healthcare challenges: Ng Eng Hen

SINGAPORE — With Singapore’s ageing population, there is a pressing need for nurses and biomedical professionals to expand their scope of responsibility and take on more roles, especially as more of them have better academic qualifications then before, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said today (July 30).

Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen serving local delicacies to SingHealth nurses, together with Group Chief Nurse Dr. Tracy Ayre, SingHealth Chairman Mr Peter Seah and senior management. Photo: Ernest Chua/TODAY

Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen serving local delicacies to SingHealth nurses, together with Group Chief Nurse Dr. Tracy Ayre, SingHealth Chairman Mr Peter Seah and senior management. Photo: Ernest Chua/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — With Singapore’s ageing population, there is a pressing need for nurses and biomedical professionals to expand their scope of responsibility and take on more roles, especially as more of them have better academic qualifications then before, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said today (July 30).

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the SingHealth Nurses’ Day celebrations at Singapore General Hospital, which he attended as guest-of-honour, Dr Ng, a former cancer surgeon, noted that Singapore will have almost one million people aged above 65 in just 15 years or so.

“If we’re going to respond to meeting the healthcare needs of our elderly, I think we’ll have to get our nurses and our biomedical colleagues to do more — be able to expand their scope of responsibility, be able to ... handle a lot of other aspects of healthcare — because you’re never going to (have) enough doctors to train,” he said. “We ought to see (the ageing population) as a challenge not to make us demoralised, but as something that we can turn into an opportunity.”

At the celebrations today, 43 nurses were presented with awards for their exemplary work performance and 20 nurses received scholarships to pursue higher education. A book compiling 95 true stories and five poems from 100 nurses was also launched to celebrate 130 years of nursing in Singapore.

In his speech at the ceremony, which was attended by 400 nurses and screened “live” to more than 2,000 others, Dr Ng paid tribute to nurses and shared how his late mother benefited from “wonderful nursing” when she fell twice and broke her hip. She was diabetic and had developed a foot ulcer, but the nurses’ devotion and tender care saved his mother’s foot from being amputated, he said.

Nurses are the “unsung heroes” who take care of the weak and the infirm without expecting any glamour, praise or fanfare, he added.

Dr Ng also said proposals on healthcare-related policies get a great deal of support in Cabinet meetings.

“Whenever something about healthcare is presented in the Cabinet ... the usual questions in terms of proposals to Government are, ‘Are you sure it’s enough? Can you do it faster? How many more do you need?’”

Nurses interviewed say the changes recommended by the National Nursing Taskforce have helped them: They now have better prospects in career progression, get higher pay and can try different career paths, such as advancing to a management role, or going into fields of clinical nursing, research, education and informatics.

The image of the profession has also improved, they added. While people used to view nurses as “handmaidens” or assistants to doctors, nurses are now seen as collaborators or partners in a multidisciplinary team, and are experts in their own field, said Senior Nurse Clinician (Advanced Practice Nurse) Rachel Marie Towle, 38, a nurse of 18 years.

Senior Staff Nurse in Emergency Medicine Glen Sim, 30, added: “It’s the growth and development that keep people going. In the past, there was only the management role you can go towards ... now, there are a lot of sub divisions you can go into, and it depends on what you love to do.”

On Monday, Senior Minister of State (Health) Amy Khor announced that about 400 nurses will be promoted to Assistant Nurse Clinicians — a newly created advanced nursing role recommended by the Taskforce. 

One such promotee, Ms Melanie Tan, 39, a nurse of 13 years who works at the National Cancer Centre, said: “It gives me more autonomy, and more opportunities to explore and anticipate what the new role will be like. It also gives me the opportunity to teach the younger ones ... (and) sit in at board meetings with doctors.” 

 

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