News
Arming nurses with skills and knowledge, flowing patients from hospital to community
31 December 2019
Chief Nursing Officer Ms Tan Soh Chin
Through her 45 years in the nursing profession, Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Tan Soh Chin has never said "no" to new experiences. That included taking on the challenges of her current position as Singapore's CNO at the Ministry of Health (MOH).
When the previous CNO Pauline Tan moved to Yishun Community Hospital, Ms Tan succeeded her after pondering for a long time. "Taking the lead as CNO was part of my 'national service' to contribute to the nursing profession," she explains. Ms Tan was appointed in January 2015.
From the time she was a trainee nurse at age 18, Ms Tan worked for healthcare institutions in the public and private sectors. After 10 years at a public hospital, she moved to the private sector, spending a year at a medical specialist centre as a clinic nurse-cum-administrator to a senior surgeon. She ran his clinics and also assisted him in the operating theatre.
Missing nursing and the clinical environment in a hospital setting, Ms Tan returned to public service in 1985-this time to the National University Hospital (NUH), which was then under the final phase of construction and commissioning.
"Working in a hospital that started from scratch was a good experience. It was at NUH that I found ample opportunities to grow and become more 'clinically seasoned'," says Ms Tan, who spent 16 years at NUH.
Another turning point for her came when she joined KK Women's and Children's Hospital as its Assistant Director of Nursing. She stayed there for 14 years before she was seconded to the MOH.
With Singapore's evolving population demographic and healthcare needs, Ms Tan believes that nurses with the clinical knowledge and skills to analyse, identify and treat are no longer a good-to-have but a must-have. "There are more than 42,000 nurses in our healthcare sector today, making up 42 per cent of the total healthcare workforce. Nurses are the backbone of the sector, and this means we need nurses to be critical thinkers with the ability to perform clinical reasoning, assessment and judgement," she says.
She is confident that the proportion of well-educated and highly-skilled registered nurses in the workforce will grow at a brisk pace. This is attributable in part to the expanding intake for the Bachelor of Science (Nursing) programme at NUS Nursing. In 2018, 313 A-level students, polytechnic graduates and mid-career professionals were admitted into the programme. This is an increase of 33 per cent over the number of students admitted the year before, and represents a more-than-sixfold increase since the school took in its first batch of nursing students in 2006.
"We are very encouraged to see nursing become a career of choice for high-calibre students," she says. "This is a result of the school's effort and investment in developing its programme to groom and train future nurses."
The increased interest from millennials in a nursing career comes at the right time as the government plans to recruit 30,000 more healthcare workers-including highly trained nurses and doctors-in primary and community health settings by 2020 to care for Singapore's ageing population.
Vision for the profession
Nurses enjoy diverse career advancement and upgrading opportunities today, thanks to two key initiatives rolled out by the MOH to retain nurses in recent years.
One of these is the National Nursing Task Force's CARE package in 2014. The Task Force, set up in 2012 with the aim of developing and strengthening nursing in Singapore, addressed fundamentals such as career structure and nursing autonomy, and looked into whether nurses were practising to the full extent of their education and training.
One of the subcommittees of the Task Force, which was chaired by Ms Tan, formulated policies on career structure and nursing salaries, including reviews and increments. Policies were also enacted to ensure adequate training funds for nursing education, as well as make certain the nursing career structure is progressive and responsive, with more opportunities for professional growth and able to meet nurses' career aspirations.
At the same time, a marketing communications campaign, "Care To Go Beyond", was initiated by the MOH to enhance the image of nursing, attract more locals into the profession, acknowledge nurses' contributions and increase the public's understanding and respect of the profession.
There are more than 42,000 nurses in our healthcare sector today, making up 42 per cent of the total healthcare workforce. Nurses are the backbone of the sector, and this means we need nurses to be critical thinkers with the ability to perform clinical reasoning, assessment and judgement.
In the face of demographic changes with the nation's growing ageing population, there is a need to shift care from hospital to community to bring care closer to home. With more resources allocated to the community care sector, a well-trained and clinically competent nursing workforce is thus required to spread across all sectors to manage patients at every step of their life stages from cradle to grave, says Ms Tan. She sees nurses as a crucial "link and interface on the ground" for the post-discharge complex cases from the hospitals who need home care or day care, a third of which is made up of end-of-life patients.
A well-trained community nursing workforce is also key to managing the frail elderly at the neighbourhood Senior Activity Centres, which now come under the MOH with the merger of the social and health sectors. Together with the community partners, these nurses attend to the seniors with chronic diseases who need care, manage them before they fall down or fall ill, and help them age well in the community.
"There is thus a need for nurse leaders to understand the perspectives of both acute and community nursing, so that they can then take on broader leadership roles and lead care across the acute and community care sectors," says Ms Tan.
In March 2019, the Singapore Nurse Leaders Programme (SNLP), jointly developed by the MOH and Healthcare Leadership College, commenced to develop future nurse leaders with a better understanding of the community care sector and a more holistic view of the healthcare landscape. The SNLP was one of the recommendations of the Future Nursing Career Review Committee, formed in 2017, to strengthen community nursing.
Of the 42,000 nurses under the Singapore Nursing Board register, about 13 per cent are not active. Ms Tan and her colleagues from the MOH hope to bring back this group of nurses through a programme called "Return to Nursing". This is challenging as those who left nursing for more than five years and who want to return to the profession must be trained to equip themselves in the latest skills and knowledge before they can practise nursing again for safety reasons, she explains.
The next few years will see the government focusing on reviewing nursing education to promote lifelong learning, says Ms Tan.
With much work done on nursing retention, recognition and autonomy, Ms Tan says that the next few years will see the government focusing on the competency slice of the pie. Education is the biggest-ticket item that remains key to the MOH's thrusts as it is part of its longer-term goal to ensure that the quality of the workforce will not be affected downstream, she says.
The review of nursing education will go in tandem with the government's SkillsFuture drive, which promotes lifelong learning via modular, stackable and part-time training, says Ms Tan. The main thrust is to recognise both formal education from the tertiary institutions and the informal training of nurses run by the healthcare clusters and institutions, many of which have their own structured training road maps, she adds.
"In the future, we plan to develop an accreditation system as well as competency frameworks to recognise the skills and competencies attained by a nurse at the workplace," she reveals.
The MOH recently announced that it is setting up the National Nursing Academy (NNA) to oversee nursing Continuing Education and Training (CET) efforts. The NNA will allow nurses to access a comprehensive suite of nursing courses and learning opportunities to promote lifelong learning.
"The Ministry is very supportive of nursing as a profession. It believes very much that if we manage to transform the nursing workforce-the largest group within healthcare-we will be able to impact positively on our care transformation," she says. "It is indeed a very exciting time for nursing, if you ask me."
This article first appeared in "Game Changer: Advancing Nursing Education since 2005", which was published in October 2019 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the graduation of our pioneer class.
Siok Qi graduated from NUS Nursing in 2011, and is presently a Nurse Manager. As a Nurse Manager, Siok Qi is responsible for the nursing practice and quality of care among frontline nurses in her ward. She leads a team of nurses to deliver the best possible care for patients.
Kiren graduated from NUS Nursing in 2012, and is presently a registered nurse working in the paediatric ward. He works collaboratively with doctors, and other multidisciplinary health professionals to provide best care for children suffering from a wide variety of diseases and illnesses. He assesses, plans, and provides the best nursing care for his patients and their families.
Gerk Sin graduated from NUS Nursing in 2009, and is presently an Advanced Practice Nurse Intern. An Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) is a Registered Nurse (RN) who has acquired the expert knowledge base, complex decision-making skills and clinical competencies for extended practice. They are trained in the diagnosis and management of common medical conditions, including chronic illnesses.
Betsy graduated from NUS Nursing in 2012, and is presently a PhD student at the school. The PhD programme prepares Betsy to be a nurse researcher. Nurse researchers are scientists who study various aspects of health, illness and health care. They design and implement scientific studies, and look for ways to improve health, healthcare services and healthcare outcomes.
Professor John Wong
Professor John Wong, Isabel Chan Professor in Medical Sciences, Senior Vice President (Health Affairs) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Chief Executive of the National University Health System, played an instrumental role in advancing higher education for nurses, when he championed the setting up of a degree programme at NUS in 2003.
Then, just months after his appointment as Dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, he began to engage key government and nursing officials on establishing a nursing degree programme for school-leavers at NUS.
He first met with then Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Ang Beng Choo, making a pledge to champion the programme. He then had formal meetings with key Ministry of Health officials at the time-Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, Director of Medical Services Tan Chorh Chuan and Permanent Secretary Moses Lee-to seek the government's green light for a local Nursing school.
When the government gave its go-ahead, he approached the NUS President and Provost in 2003, Professor Shih Choon Fong and Provost Chong Chi Tat, respectively, to secure their support for a school of Nursing at NUS.
One of the challenges was obtaining funding for the programme, but a late-night meeting with Prof Shih at the residence of the late Dr Lee Seng Gee, then Chairman of the Lee Foundation, cleared this hurdle.
"We met Dr Lee at his residence close to midnight as he had a function to attend," Prof Wong recalls, "and the meeting went on till past 1 am."
"We told him the reason we were keen to advance nursing education in Singapore was because critically-thinking baccalaureate-prepared nurses were critical to Singapore's future. His wife, Dr Della Lee, fully understood our vision and objectives and soon after that meeting, the Lees made a donation to create a school in honour of Dr Lee's mother, Alice Lee," he recounts.
In 2005, the philanthropic group presented a $30 million gift to NUS to fund the setting up of a nursing school, as well as new scholarships and professorships.
The donation paved the way for the team comprising staff from NUS and the CNO's office to turn its plans into reality. Their priorities were to hire leading faculty and locate classrooms, labs and office facilities for the programme.
Prof Wong explains that starting the nursing school as a department within the medical school was a deliberate decision, but it was named a "Centre" to avert perception that it is being "dominated by the medical profession".
An International Advisory Panel comprising nursing leaders from Australia, United Kingdom and United States was convened to provide expert advice on curriculum and faculty for the Centre. Subsequently, the team went to Hong Kong to recruit the school's first founding head, Professor David Arthur, who was appointed in June 2006.
In August 2006, the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies officially opened its doors with 49 students and five faculty members sited at the Faculty of Engineering, due to a shortage of space in the School of Medicine.
The school moved to its present location at MD11 in February 2011. Today, the programme has taken off with an enrolment of more than 300 students. It is also ranked Asia's leading nursing programme by the QS Rankings.
Professor John Wong with NUS Nursing students at the first group-wide Nurses' Day celebration in 2018, organised by the National University Health System.
The belief that a strong nursing school would be a critical prong of Singapore's future healthcare ecosystem motivated his vision, explains Prof Wong.
"Nurses, being the largest profession in healthcare, have the best chance to be scaled up to take on roles in healthcare leadership, administration, care delivery and policy-making, compared to the smaller number of doctors and other allied health professions such as pharmacists and physiotherapists.
"I can't understate how important the Centre is going to be in turning out real drivers and leaders of Singapore's future healthcare," he reiterates.
Attracting the best and brightest school-leavers to take up Nursing as a career will, however, remain an uphill challenge, as it requires young women and men to devote their lives to a "really tough" profession.
Prof Wong believes three things must happen before high-calibre school-leavers choose nursing over other healthcare disciplines such as medicine and pharmacy-and the good news is that all are being done.
"Firstly, society has to change its perception that all nurses do are bathing and cleaning patients. Secondly, the healthcare profession needs to engage nurses as partners and leaders. And lastly, career and compensation structures should be designed to enable this."
When you look at primary care, and even advanced primary care, there's no reason why a well-trained nurse with her or his Master's degree can't manage a patient's hypertension, hyperlipidemia or vaccinations and screening programmes.
With the evolution in nurses' professional development, Prof Wong sees no reason why the 21st century model of a primary healthcare provider can't include a family nurse practitioner.
"When you look at primary care, and even advanced primary care, there's no reason why a well-trained nurse with her or his Master's degree can't manage a patient's hypertension, hyperlipidemia or vaccinations and screening programmes. It could very easily be done; in fact, it's been done in some parts of the world," he reasons.
Presently, less than 15 per cent of the nurses in Singapore are graduates. "I want to see this proportion increase substantially in my lifetime," Prof Wong quips.
This article first appeared in "Game Changer: Advancing Nursing Education since 2005", which was published in October 2019 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the graduation of our pioneer class.
Dr Lim Su Fee, Class of 2015 (PhD)
Dr Lim Su Fee became an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) in rehabilitation medicine, thanks in part to the mentorship of Associate Professor Peter Lim, founding head of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
Prior to becoming an APN, Dr Lim was a nurse clinician for three-and-a-half years at SGH. When SGH set up its Rehabilitation Unit in 2000, the hospital appointed her as the unit's nurse case coordinator and subsequently, the ward's specialty care nurse. At the time, since there were no nurses trained in rehabilitation medicine, she was attached to A/Prof Lim.
"I would follow A/Prof Lim on his rounds and observe his interaction with his patients. He would often hold their hands and speak to them at eye level. Many of his elderly patients would cry because they were touched by his sincerity.
"I learnt a lot from his clinical teaching rounds and developed a special interest in caring for people who have suffered a debilitating illness or injury, requiring rehabilitation," says Dr Lim, whose unit helps these patients maximise their potential, regain their functionality and lead as normal lives as possible. "It is not enough to keep them alive; we must give them a life that is worth living," she adds.
To specialise in advanced nursing practice in rehabilitation medicine, Dr Lim was sent to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in 2002, the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston in 2006, as well as the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Duke University School of Nursing in Durham, USA, in 2014, for further studies.
In between these courses, in 2004, she also enrolled in the Master of Nursing course, becoming the second cohort of nurses in Singapore to be trained as an APN at the Division of Graduate Medical Studies of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
The APN role, says Dr Lim, epitomises the expansion, evolution and progression of nursing in Singapore and is one of the most versatile and autonomous nursing roles today. "APNs can examine and diagnose patients, order tests, initiate and evaluate treatment, and now, even prescribe medicine. But that is not all we can do. We conduct research and present our work at conferences. Many of us are also adjunct faculty at educational institutions," adds Dr Lim, who spends 70 per cent of her time on clinical work, 20 per cent on teaching and 10 per cent on research.
Dr Lim is also actively involved in APN training, internship and examination on the national level.
Advanced Practice Nurse Dr Lim Su Fee divides her time between teaching and research, in addition to her clinical role.
Aside from advanced practice nursing, community nursing is also shaking up the traditional role of nursing. Dr Lim leads a new community nursing initiative at SingHealth where a team of 30 acute care trained community nurses provide healthcare services to pre-frail and frail elderly residents at Senior Activity Centres, Family Service Centres, Residents' Committees and even two mosques in southeastern Singapore.
"We believe that all residents need a 'family nurse' who can keep close tabs on their health and manage them through their entire life span. We want our nurses to be part of the neighbourhood and to be very accessible to the residents to help them keep well and age well," explains Dr Lim.
These nurses, who are trained in specialties such as chronic disease management, geriatrics, oncology or palliative care, provide services including health assessment, medication management, early interventions to prevent diseases, as well as monitoring of and education on chronic diseases.
Dr Lim explains that they also make home visits when necessary, and coordinate with other health and social care agencies to provide the necessary support.
Dr Lim leads a team of community nurses, based across Singapore, who manages the health of elderly residents. Photo Credit: SGH
A new service, where nurses visit the homes of patients to give antibiotics injections, has managed to reduce a total of 30 hospitalisation days and saved costs.
"Community nursing is a very independent practice as nurses have to go to residents' homes alone, innovate improvisations and make good clinical decisions," she says. Her nurses at the SingHealth Community Nurse Posts also take the lead in managing their residents' care by communicating and collaborating with primary care doctors.
"This initiative allows nurses to work independently, drawing not only on their nursing skills but also on their organisational and clinical decision-making competency. In community nursing, nurses are not just passive followers but take the lead in the collaborative care of residents," she states.
With SGH currently building in the institutional processes for nurses to prescribe medicine, this will be even more groundbreaking and useful for community nursing practice, explains Dr Lim, who is a certified Collaborative Prescribing Practitioner and graduate of the inaugural National Collaborative Prescribing Programme hosted by NUS Nursing and NUS Pharmacy.
Community nursing is a very independent practice as nurses have to go to residents' homes alone, innovate improvisations and make good clinical decisions.
The winner of the President's Nurse Award in 2015 did not always aspire to be in the field. Her childhood dream was to become a policewoman. It was her first encounter with nurses when she was hospitalised as a child that helped her to develop a shine for the profession. Later, her cousin, who was studying in Singapore, mailed her a recruitment advertisement for nursing students by SGH and the National University Hospital. Dr Lim came to Singapore from Malaysia for the interview, and the rest is history.
This article first appeared in "Game Changer: Advancing Nursing Education since 2005", which was published in October 2019 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the graduation of our pioneer class.
Ng Siok Qi, Class of 2011
The Russian doll sitting on the desk of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) Nurse Manager Ng Siok Qi may seem out of place, but it holds a special meaning for her.
"Russian dolls are given to newly-promoted nursing supervisors at the hospital to remind us that the hallmark of a successful leader is to develop nurses to be 'bigger' than ourselves," she explains.
One of the youngest nurse managers at KTPH, Ms Ng, 31, catapulted to the rank in just four years after she joined the hospital as a fresh graduate of the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies (NUS Nursing).
When her manager left for a new position at Yishun Community Hospital, she was asked if nursing management was a career track she was keen to explore, recounts Ms Ng, who was then a nursing scholar.
"I never imagined that I would be made a manager," says Ms Ng. She accepted the offer as she believes that human resource management directly impacts the care nurses provide to patients.
"If nurses are not managed well, it will take a toll on their teamwork and morale, and the effects will spiral down to the care they provide," she explains. She also adds that a well-managed workforce holds a higher retention rate.
At the 33-bedder General Medicine ward, you can find Ms Ng behind the scenes managing its finances and administrative resourcing, as well as on the ground interacting with nurses and patients to ensure that care standards remain high. Stepping in to manage incidents and handling feedback are also some of the other duties she has to juggle daily.
Rising up the ranks, Nurse Manager Ng Siok Qi enjoys the dynamic nature of her job at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital where she now leads a team of nurses.
Accepted by local universities to study Accountancy and Nursing after her GCE A-levels, Ms Ng could have easily become an accountant, but she chose to enter the field of nursing instead.
"They say that if you have a job that you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life. Nursing is a job that makes me feel emotionally fulfilled at the end of a day," she remarks.
Although Ms Ng made the Dean's List throughout her four years at NUS, she did not start off as a confident practitioner as she felt she lacked hands-on practice.
Instead of giving up, the novice nurse sought opportunities to improve in this area. "When a colleague or patient needed help, I would volunteer so that I could practise my skills, something I could pick up quickly in six months," she says.
Ms Ng won the annual Nurses' Merit Award for her outstanding performance and contribution to the profession and patient care in 2018.
Not a desk-bound person, she relishes the constant change and challenges in her current job. "Every day is different here. Compared to the more established hospitals, we have a large proportion of younger nurses and managers and the working environment is very dynamic.
"It is also less hierarchical, making it conducive for me to speak up and challenge conventional ideas and practices," says the self-confessed rebel.
They say that if you have a job that you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life. Nursing is a job that makes me feel emotionally fulfilled at the end of a day.
Ms Ng feels that the key to effective nursing leadership lies in adapting her management style to the diverse team under her, comprising both local and foreign nurses, as well as the entry-level millennial nurses who are increasing in the workforce.
Having been a nurse for the past eight years, she has seen nursing evolve in tandem with the higher educational qualifications of nurses. "From simply providing handmaiden care, nurses are now steering patient management too," she reveals. "Upping the educational levels and capabilities of our nurses will allow us to push the profession forward. We are still taking baby steps right now, but we're getting there."
This article first appeared in "Game Changer: Advancing Nursing Education since 2005", which was published in October 2019 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the graduation of our pioneer class.
Lim Chi Ching, Class of 2010
Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) Lim Chi Ching's childhood ambition was to be a doctor and help save lives.
She is saving lives today but not as a doctor.
Ms Lim changed her mind at 18 after learning how a nurse had conscientiously cared for her late grandmother before she passed away from pneumonia.
Ms Lim's parents worked when she was a child growing up in Malaysia so she was brought up by her maternal grandmother and the two became close. Wanting a better education for their daughter, Ms Lim's parents sent her to Singapore to do her A-levels. Just before her exams, her grandmother passed away. Her parents kept the news of her grandmother's death from Ms Lim because they didn't want her to be distracted from the A-levels.
Understandably, Ms Lim was upset when she found out that her grandmother had passed on. To comfort her, her mother shared with Ms Lim the meticulous care her late grandmother received before she passed away.
"For instance, when the very thin skin on the back of her hands peeled off, the nurse would carefully bandage them, ensuring there was no pain or infection," recounts Ms Lim.
Knowing her grandmother was well cared for in the last leg of her life made Ms Lim realise that the work done by nurses in relieving a patient's pain and promoting her dignity was as important as a doctor's job in treating the disease.
As someone who had always marched to the beat of her own drum, she decided to give up her medical ambition despite achieving good A-level grades that would have qualified her to apply for medical school.
Instead, she chose to accept the National Healthcare Group's Nursing Scholarship and enrolled in the undergraduate nursing programme at the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies (NUS Nursing) in 2006 as its pioneer batch of students.
An attachment to the cancer department of the National University Hospital (NUH) subsequently made up her mind to be an oncology nurse. Seeing the nurses there care for end-stage cancer patients gave her an overwhelming sense of déjà vu and left a deep impression on her. "The nurses didn't have a cure for these patients but they were able to help ease their pain and make their last days more meaningful and dignified-similar to what that nurse did for my grandmother," Ms Lim explains.
Advanced Practice Nurse Lim Chi Ching, who manages a Myeloma Clinic and a Telehealth Clinic at NCIS, understands the importance of providing emotional support for her patients.
Oncology nursing is unique in that the impact of a cancer diagnosis on a patient cannot be compared to that of other diseases, says Ms Lim. Besides administering timely treatment procedures prescribed by doctors, such as chemotherapy, antibiotics, blood transfusion and immunotherapy, oncology nurses also need to be a source of emotional support for their patients.
Understanding the needs of patients and offering them the right encouragement and comfort was something Ms Lim found difficult to do when she first started her practice; but with experience, she has come to learn that sometimes, all her patients needed were a pair of warm hands holding theirs and a listening ear.
"I feel that oncology nursing has become more and more challenging as cancer treatment is now very advanced and new therapies are introduced regularly. As the treatment provider, nurses must be able to judge and give initial treatment before the doctor arrives," adds Ms Lim.
To improve her ability to diagnose and administer treatment, Ms Lim underwent two years of Master's training at NUS Nursing and a one-year internship before passing the Singapore Nursing Board's examination to become an APN.
There are five APNs at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) where Ms Lim works. They take turns carrying out diagnoses, giving initial treatment and recommending medical plans for individual patients to the attending doctor. They also order tests and X-rays, interpret the results and assist patients according to the reports. These are services offered by NCIS' Urgent Care Clinic to patients presented with symptoms requiring review prior to chemotherapy.
Ms Lim helms a Myeloma Clinic and a Telehealth Clinic for patients with myeloproliferative disorders. Her training is in multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell, called plasma cell, which helps fight infections by making antibodies to recognise and attack germs. Multiple myeloma causes cancer cells to accumulate in the bone marrow where they crowd out healthy blood cells. Instead of producing helpful antibodies, the cancer cells produce abnormal proteins that can cause complications.
"Many affected are the elderly and all we can do is keep the cancer under control with oral medication. Unlike previous intensive treatments that sometimes resulted in complications, the oral medication can help patients adapt and return to their lifestyle," says Ms Lim.
I'm happy to be able to fight alongside my patients...I don't think I would ever want to lose that special bond that nurses have with patients.
Some of her classmates have left nursing for other professions in healthcare, but Ms Lim finds satisfaction in oncology nursing. "I'm happy to be able to fight alongside my patients. I vividly remember one who was in a wheelchair. Every time we met, he would try to stand and ask me to be his cheering section to help motivate him. I almost cried," she recounts.
"I don't think I would ever want to lose that special bond that nurses have with patients."
This article first appeared in "Game Changer: Advancing Nursing Education since 2005", a commemorative book published in October 2019 to mark the 10th anniversary of the graduation of our pioneer class.
