The 2nd Ministry of Health International Nursing Conference and The 10th Joint Singapore Malaysia Nursing Conference

20 Jul 2005

By Prof K Satku, Director of Medical Services

Venue: Meritus Mandarin Hotel, Singapore

"Charting The Strategic Direction for Nursing in The 21st Century"

Miss Ang Beng Choo

Chief Nursing Officer, Singapore

Mdm Eishah Bt Ahmad

Matron Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri, Malaysia

Dr Premarani Kannusamy

Chairperson, Organising Committee

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to join you all here today, at the opening of the 10th Joint Singapore-Malaysia Nursing Conference and the 2nd Ministry of Health International Nursing Conference.

On behalf of my colleagues here in Singapore let me extend a very warm welcome to Mdm Eishah Bt Ahmad, Matron Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri, Malaysia, all Malaysian delegates, our keynote speaker, Professor Peter Facione, Provost of Loyola University, Chicago and all our other overseas speakers and delegates. I am happy to note that there are delegates from 12 countries attending this conference.

This year, we celebrate 120 years of nursing in Singapore. It started in 1885 with four French nuns and over the years our nursing population has grown to over 19,000. The profession has also progressed significantly. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank all our nurses for their achievements and contributions. 

Advances in health care continue to grow exponentially. Nurses, like all other healthcare professionals, are challenged today to incorporate these advances into their practice in the face of increasing consumer demand for quality care and organizational pressure for cost containment.

Nurses are also pushing the boundary and expanding beyond their traditional role, the Advance Practice Nurse being an example. 

There is a need for nurses to continually reflect on changes and review developments so that they may make the best decisions for the advancement of the profession and for optimal patient care.

Hence the conference theme "Charting the strategic direction for nursing in the 21st Century" is appropriate.

Our educational experience is the most important enabler for the advancements that we seek. As you chart directions for the 21st century your strategy must incorporate measures to optimise the nurses' educational experience.

Educational Experience - Polytechnic

A nursing graduate who can think critically and reflect analytically will be invaluable for both the profession and patient.

To nurture such a professional, nurse educators will need to integrate instructional strategies that foster critical thinking into all levels of the nursing curriculum.

It is important to consciously abandon methods that make students passive recipients of information. Adopt methods that transform students into active participants. Their intellectual growth will certainly be stimulated in the course of such interactive sessions.

The educational process must also provide an excellent clinical foundation. But with an increase in the enrolment for nursing courses, we are facing a shortage of Clinical Nurse Educators. Clinical simulations help but they must never replace training in the clinical setting.

I am glad to note that the Chief Nursing Officer is currently working closely with the various educational institutions and hospitals to address this issue. However, this problem will not be solved without your cooperation and support.

I would like to encourage all our clinical nurses to step forward and take personal responsibility to ensure that our students have the best education possible. On our part, we will assist by enabling you with the necessary pedagogical skills, so that your role as a clinical educator can be enhanced.

Strengthening Healthcare Delivery - NUS Bachelor of Science (Nursing)

As nurses you partner other healthcare professionals to deliver holistic care for our patients. We are all aware that there are areas where we can do better and the nursing profession can play a key role to strengthen these areas. A new framework is required to prepare nurses for this role.

The Bachelor of Science, nursing programme at the National University of Singapore which will begin in 2006 is an important arm of this framework. 

The curricula for the Bachelors in Nursing programme must ensure that students not only continue to have the opportunities to acquire broad general competencies demanded of them in practice but also new competencies like enhanced medical expertise, quality improvement strategies, ethics and  social responsibility and commitment to continual learning and development. 

Newer teaching techniques such as problem based learning that enhances the learning experience should also be incorporated. When appropriately instructed, these nurses will enhance our health care delivery processes and the quality of care our patients receive.

APNs

Although the bachelors program will only commence in 2006, a group of self-motivated nurses have been seeking fulfilment in their practice by pursuing degree courses on their own accord. This has enabled us to develop a Masters programme to train Advance Practice Nurses. 

The first batch of potential APNs in Singapore has graduated and completed their internship.  Their role is a new one in Singapore. These nurses have been trained to function more independently and have the potential to make important contributions to the nation's effort to provide affordable quality health care services. 

These are our early years with the APN programme, but critical years for the profession. The profession has taken a bold step forward.

At a recent nursing conference, I had challenged the audience to think of ways by which advance practice nursing can make significant contributions to our healthcare programmes.

I put forth this challenge now, to you as well. In the course of your discussions, take time to articulate your vision, defining the role of the advanced practice nurse in our healthcare setting, their role with respect to the medical professionals and equally importantly their role with respect to other nursing professionals.

CPD

While the nursing programmes and courses that I have alluded to equip us with skills and knowledge to begin our journey CPD allows us to keep pace with the new developments in the profession. A recent amendment to our Nurses and Midwives Act requires you, as a professional, to participate in CPD activities.

You must organize your daily routine in such a way that continuing professional development is an integral part of you duties. The beneficiaries will not just be yourself but also your employers and importantly our patients.

Take a queue from what the doctors do. They have departmental grand rounds and even hospital grand rounds.

EBP - Evidenced Based Practice

As clinicians, we have the professional and moral obligations to practise evidence-based medicine. We must steer away from practices based on tradition.

My Ministry has been developing nursing practice guidelines to this end. Developing the guidelines is the easier task.  Implementation and sustainability of these guidelines and changes in practice are the formidable tasks.

The challenge for us is to ensure that these guidelines are used by nurses in the delivery of their everyday care to improve patient outcomes. I would like to emphasize that support from strong clinical leaders is an essential component for the successful implementation and further development of EBP. 

Summing up. The learning and training that I have alluded to will further enable the profession and there will be many opportunities to advance yourselves.  As you deliberate to chart your future and make strategic decisions it is important that we retain the correct perspectives of nursing.

Future of Nursing Practice

From the beginning nurses have always remained close to patients - caring has remained and will continue to be the central tenet for nursing but caring by itself may not offer all nurses professional fulfilment.

The profession is reinventing itself by developing skills and expertise and will play a more significant role in patient management.

As you become more skilled in the sciences and take on greater responsibility in patient management you must never lose the care element. 

You must remain aware of your other healthcare partners and collaborate to deliver patient-centric care. It is easy to forget the patient in this hurried world if developing the profession becomes the central issue. 

Clinical leaders from all healthcare professions must participate in this journey so that as each healthcare profession develops itself, a collaborative relationship which is patient-centric, is the outcome. 

On that note, let me end by wishing all of you a very enriching and stimulating conference.

It now gives me great pleasure to declare the 10th Singapore Malaysia Nursing Conference and 2nd Ministry of Health International Nursing Conference open.