NURSING PRIDEAug/Sep 2013 Nurses’ Day Bumper Issue

Volume 27

Tan Tock Seng Nurses Gunning for World Records on Nurses’ Day!

For internal circulation only

By SN Chia Jia Yu (6B)

For the 2013 Nurses’ Day Celebrations, the Organising Committee created a historic milestone with our hospital's nurses efforts in gunning for a place in the Guinness World Records.

At 1930hrs on the 1st of August 2013, 619 of our nurses came together in formation, lighting up the nightsky with LED rings and glowsticks, more than

tripling the standing world record of 201. The formation is meant to signify our nurses' solidarity, standing together through thick and thin to serve the community. This feat has successfully chalked up an entry into the Singapore Book of Records, and now awaits entry into the Guinness Book of Records for 'Most Number of People Dressed as Nurses.'

The idea first came about when the Organising Committee brainstormed about a meaningful celebration on top of all the other fun and festivities planned for our nurses. The final execution of the cupid’s heart being formed not only shows we have a lot of ‘heart’, it also says: “It’s all worth it!” Once again, a Happy Nurses’ Day to you!

Say What

A Book to remember…. TTSH’s first Nursing Commemorative Book!!

Nurses' Day 2013 came bundled with various activities. We had:

- Kite design and flying contest to showcase our creativity

- Telematch to foster team spirit

- Nursing video clip contest to showcase script-writing and acting talents

- Cultural performance at Novena Square 2 to celebrate our diversity

- Our attempt to break the Guinness World Records by having the largest number of nurses in uniforms forming a heart-shaped cupid

Not forgetting the very special Nurses' Day gift for each and every one of us - the Nursing Commemorative Book, something for keepsake - reliving the past, reflecting on the present, and pondering over the future as we turn the pages of the book.

Each of us has our own unique reason for becoming a nurse - it could be a childhood dream, because of parents' nudging, peer influence, drama influence, job stability, job prospects, a late calling in life, etc... As we go about our daily routine in nursing, whether mundane or adrenaline-filled, perhaps, we should take a moment to take stock and reflect on what nursing means to us.

Regardless the cause, the effect unites all of us; to care and to serve those in need... Let us stand tall on this special day as well as every day - to be proud of our passion and contribution we have made to society as nurses.

Happy Nurses' Day to one and all!

Editorial Note

Nursing Commemorative Book Launch ceremony during Nurses’ Day Celebration on 30th July - Guest of Honor Parliamentary Sec, A/Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (font row in white shirt) with the VIPs and characters from the book.

continued next page

Our nurses gathered in formation, lighting up the nightsky with LED rings and glowsticks to break the Guinness World Records on Nurses’ Day 2013.

By The Commemorative Book Nursing Editorial Team

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As we walk down the memory lane, we recall being recruited into this project where the book was just known as the “Coffee-table book”! This was back in 2011, where a small group of nurses envisioned a book dedicated solely to the nurses of TTSH. The name of the book evolved to become the “Nursing Commemorative Book” to honour all nurses in its entirety. What followed was a series of story ideas, staff selection, layout, meetings (internal and external), interviews, photo shoots (and re-shoots), fact-finding, name verification, editing, revision… the tasks were gruelling and laborious. Looking for sponsorships was challenging and every cent raised was celebrated. Our ‘Whatsapp’ discussions were always filled with millions of ideas and ways to successfully execute each of them!

It was easy to feel despondent when times were tough especially when coupled with shift work, personal

commitments, lack of sleep and deadlines. Encouragement from our peers and our focus on producing a great book prodded us on. Slowly but surely, the dream materialised and the project started taking shape.

On the 30th of July 2013, the TTSH Nursing Commemorative Book was proudly launched during the Nurses’ Day celebrations. This event was graced by the Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Transport, A/Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Chief Nursing Officer, Dr Pauline Tan, NHG Deputy Group CEO and TTSH CEO Prof Philip Choo, CMB Prof Thomas Lew, COO Dr Eugene Soh, Senior Management from NHG, ex-TTSH CEO, Dr Lim Suet Wun, guests from MOH and SNB as well as Mr John Tan and family, who are descendents of Mr Tan Tock Seng.

The book launch started with a touching speech by Ms Lee Leng Noey, the Deputy Director of Nursing. This was followed

by a 5-minute video depicting the journey of the Commemorative Book. Nurses portrayed in the book escorted the VIPs during the unveiling of the book and handed them their own special copy. The book launch in itself was an eye-opening experience for novices like us.

Seeing the book through to its completion was akin to a birth of a child, which is depicted in the editorial photo shoot. When we first held the book in our hands, we were overwhelmed with a great sense of satisfaction and joy. As any parent would say “once I have seen my child, I have forgotten how challenging it was before delivery!!!”.

We, the Editorial team, hope that all nurses will enjoy reading the Commemorative Book and will be able to relate to the stories featured. We wish all nurses a Happy Nurses’ Day! May your own stories continue to enlighten and touch the people you meet!

Proud of their effort! The Nursing Editorial team posing a group shot with their production partners from Singapore Press Holdings and the characters from the Nursing Commemorative Book.

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Nurses’ Day 2013 Photo Collages!

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Director of Nursing, Mr Yong’s Nurses’ Day Speech on 30th July 2013

Good afternoon Parliamentary Secretary, A/Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Chief Nursing Officer, Dr Pauline Tan; Mr John Tan & Family, Descendents of Mr Tan Tock Seng; NHG Deputy Group CEO and TTSH CEO Prof Philip Choo; Senior Management from NHG, CMB Prof Thomas Lew, COO Dr Eugene Soh, guests from MOH, SNB, colleagues, friends and NURSES of TTSH!

First of all, I wish to thank our 2 special guests from MOH for taking time to join us in this special celebratory event today. We are indeed honored – Parliamentary Secretary, A/Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, and Chief Nursing Officer, Dr Pauline Tan. We are also very pleased to have Mr John Tan and his family joining us in this year’s celebration – I believe it’s their first time…welcome.

I was gently reminded before I prepared for this speech that I over-consumed my allotted time at last year’s Nurses Day event, followed by a very subtle hint that it would be unforgiveable if I repeat

the same misbehavior again. Boy, we Nurses do have long memories! Hence I will behave and keep my speech short, from 10 pages last year to slightly over 3 pages today.

Nurses’ Day is always a very special day for all of us, as it is a day in which we honour and recognize nurses, who are the backbone of this institution. As with tradition, we will be giving out some individual and team awards today, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank our friend & partner, Ngee Ann Adelaide Education Center, for again sponsoring this year’s Spirit of Excellence and Extraordinary Nurse Awards.

Besides today’s winners, some of our colleagues have already received their accolades in separate events. Eight nurses of various designations received the Healthcare Humanity Award earlier this year from our President, His Excellency Dr Tony Tan. They were recognized not only for their contributions to the hospital, but to

the community as well. The Ministry of Health also presented nine of our nurses with the Nurses’ Merit award for their dedication to the nursing profession. And please also join me to hold our breath for the announcement of the winners for the President’s Award for Nurses at the Istana Party tomorrow, and hope that one of us becomes the 4th nurse in TTSH to receive this prestigious award! *

As a profession, we have some notable achievements in the past year. We developed and launched the eWound Clinical Decision Support System, which now provides a new paradigm of wound management and empowers nurses with the knowledge to handle more complex wounds without reliance on a specialist. This decision support system has the potential to expand to other evidenced-based clinical knowledge and skills, and further en-skill nurses to provide high-level care to more patients. Our contacts in US and Asia are already enquiring whether we could export the system overseas!

Our Shared Governance system is taking shape since our first Governance Council Elections last year. We have in fact progressed to a state where we are confident enough to apply, this month, for the Pathway to Excellence, a prestigious accreditation by the American Nurse Credentialing Centre that recognizes organizations and nursing systems that have demonstrated practice and workplace excellence. We are keeping our fingers crossed till end-August, when the results will

(Reproduced with permission)

Mr Yong is seen here beaming proudly with his nurses.

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be announced. Under the Shared Governance structure, we have also started to better tap on our nurses’ creative potential by introducing the Nursing Innovative Fund. To date, we have disbursed over $7000 to our various nursing teams to prototype 35 of their wonderful ideas to improve care and processes!

And to cap it all, we are launching our First Commemorative Book for Nursing today, after 1-plus years of meticulous planning and sheer hard work. In the words of our CEO, the Book “celebrates the contributions of our nurses through the years, who have helped mould TTSH into a world-class institution it is today”. Conceptualised as a light-reading book, “it also provides a greater insight into how nursing in TTSH has evolved with technology, education, research, dedication and compassion, spurring nursing into new heights”. It begins with the young school leavers’ first decision to choose nursing, follows the nurses as they made TTSH the “Choice Institution for Great Nursing”, and traces memories back to the veterans in full circle. When you have the book, which will be given to every TTSH nurse this year, check out some of my favorite chapters on Page 25, to view more youthful photos of Chee Hoon, Thong Hoon & Poh Seo in the early 1990s; Page 46 on some of nurses’ well-told superstitions; Page 50, where you will see beautiful photos of nurses working at night, and Page 98, where 2 compliment letters from patients & family really swelled my pride for our profession. Well, I will leave you to find your favorite chapters, and I’m sure like what CNO wrote in her foreword, you will find that it serves as a great “reference book for new generations of nurses who need to know about the past in order to strengthen the present and build a better tomorrow for the profession”. From nurses, about nurses, for nurses – I hope my nursing colleagues will enjoy this memento from the Hospital, served with a big heart.

This year, Nurses’ Day is aptly celebrated with the theme ‘Excelling in Diversity.’ Despite our differences in nationality or belief, we are bonded by one common objective; the well-being of our patients.

It is with this sense of togetherness that we can continue to provide the best possible care for our patients. Read Page 56 of the Book to find out how much we are alike in diversity!

Before I end, please join me in a round of applause to thank the Nurses’ Day

Mr Yong (centre) gamely dressed up as the ‘Kachang Puteh man’ on the 31st July during the basking sessions around the wards.

Here, Mr Yong is seen busily serving snacks to the hardworking nurses at the SOCs.

Organising Committee, led by Lathy, Karen and Patma, and the Editorial Team for the Book, led by Leng Noey and James, for their great efforts!

Thank you and I wish all nurses a smashing Nurses’ Day!

* APN Jasmine Kang became the youngest nurse to win the President’s Award for Nurses 2013. To find out more, please read page 10.

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The Youngest President’s Award Winner

At 33, Jasmine is also the youngest nurse to win this prestigious award which is currently now into its fourteenth year. She received a trophy, a certificate and $6,000 to attend conferences and training programs.

It was not a one way ticket to glory for Jasmine. Though she did well in her GCE ‘O’ Levels and could have continued her studies in the junior college, financial constraints hindered this ambition. Her interest in nursing coupled by her affinity towards teaching propelled her towards a nursing program. Furthermore, the sponsorship that was awarded to her helped to alleviate her family’s financial burdens. As education bears a significant role in the nursing profession, she is thankful that she could teach by being a nurse, and hence, she has never looked back. After obtaining her nursing degree in 2002, Jasmine was at the crossroads of choosing her specialty. The holistic care delivered by the multidisciplinary team of geriatricians and Geriatric-trained nurses appealed to her. Moreover, she was interested to look beyond patients’ medical condition and into their functional and psychosocial facets. Thus, she decided to specialise in Gerontology in 2003 and was the top scorer in her cohort. In 2008, she went on to become the first Geriatric-trained APN in Singapore, graduating with a Masters of Nursing (APN) from the National University of Singapore (NUS). She felt that she could combine the APN’s medical and nursing knowledge to become a better nurse and care for her patients.

As the first Geriatric-trained APN, Jasmine had the momentous task of defining her role to complement the overall delivery of geriatric care in Singapore.

Since 2010, she has been providing training and education to the nurses from the Geriatric Monitoring Unit (GMU) in caring for patients with delirium. Her passion to share her knowledge and to nurture the future generation of nurses saw her taking up on the commitment to lecture in NUS in the Masters of Nursing Program.

By Yeo Jia Yang Joey (Continuing Community Care)

Jasmine is currently in-charge of the Geriatric Comprehensive Assessment for Rehabilitation of the Elderly (GeriCARE). She works closely with the physicians from General Medicine and Geriatric Medicine in triaging and facilitating the needs of the frail elderly in the inpatients wards since 2012.

In her own time, she makes an effort to visit post-discharge patients and volunteers extensively towards the less privileged elderly in the community. She also participated in overseas mission trips to Indonesia, Cambodia and East Timor and managed mobile clinics to provide basic consultations to the poor and needy. In 2011, she received the Healthcare Humanity Award.

Despite the list of achievements and titles, Jasmine remains a humble nurse, a caring mentor and supervisor. Jasmine shares that “I am greatly honored and humbled to have won the President’s Nurse Award. I feel that there are many more nurses who are definitely more deserving than me. It is an affirmation for my passion in nursing and I’m proud to represent TTSH Nursing and the Geriatric Department in receiving this award.”

The Nursing Pride team congratulates Jasmine on her triumph and hopes that her story and successes would inspire more nurses to take up the call to advance in their professional development.

Jasmine celebrating her win with her pals.

APN Jasmine Kang became the youngest nurse to receive the President’s Award for Nurses from our President, Dr Tony Tan. Flanking them were our Minister for Health, Gan Kim Yong (left) and our First Lady, Ms Mary Tan

"It's a great privilege to care for elderly and

share my knowledge to care for elderly to my

nurses the way we wish for our loved ones to be

cared for."

It was truly a moment of honour when the cameras clicked frantically away as President Tony Tan Keng Yam handed Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) Jasmine Kang the President’s Award for Nurses at the Istana on the 31st July 2013. This award, the highest accolade for the nursing profession in Singapore, is given to nurses who made exemplary contributions towards patient safety, clinical excellence and research.

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The National Healthcare Group (NHG) first began giving out the NHG awards in 2001, and soon added the NHG Outstanding Citizenship Award in order to recognise outstanding healthcare workers for their contributions. The recipients of this award not only honors the best individuals, but also to those who go the extra mile and make a difference in our patients’ lives. Congratulations to Ms Leong Yoke Yin, Deputy Director of Nursing, for being one of the six award winners. Ms Leong has contributed in various projects; one of it being the Self Administration of Medication (SAM) in the subacute wards. She also headed the smoking cessation team that won the Merit award at the Clinical Practice Improvement Project (CPIP) Convention. As part of the TTSH Workplace Task Force, she set out to

The NHG Outstanding Citizenship Award

The NHG Excellence In Action (NHG-EIA) Award

engage older workers through different initiatives that have strengthened NHG’s commitment in re-employing matured workers.

As head of the administrative department, she has kick-started Nursing Quality

In 29 July 2013 at the IMH Lecture Hall, an award ceremony was held in recognition of those who had contributed towards improving work practices and for sustained service excellence. Deputy Director of Nursing, Ms Wong Mui Peng received the NHG-EIA award in the leadership category. She has been the strongest advocate and support for LEAN improvement, and is constantly encouraging others to try new ways to improve processes for better, faster, cheaper and safer care for patients. Her key achievements are as such:

•Timely discharges of patients to reduce our bed crunch problem

• Scheduling and planning the renovations for the ‘Wards of the Future’, a key initiative to improve patient care

•Boosting Patient Satisfaction Survey by actively walking the ground on a daily basis, to support improvement at ward levels

While we always seek new frontiers in healthcare and bring in new innovations to help our patients, it is consistency and sustained excellence that keep our patients safe and happy at all times.

Congratulations to Ms Wong Mui Peng and the other award winners. May they always continue to inspire us all towards practice excellence!

projects at Ren Ci Hospital that resulted in winning an award in Incontinence Care. She was also the Chapter leader in Staff Qualifications and Education and “Access to Care and Continuity of Care”. She had also won the NHG-Clinical Practice Improvement Award in 2009.

DDN Ms Wong Mui Peng (third from left), along with fellow winners and the VIPs of the NHG-EIA award ceremony.

By SN Ginny Lim (10B)

By SN Ginny Lim (10B)

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Editorial Team

Prema Harrison (6B)

Ginny Lim (10B)

Ibnu Firdaus (12C)

Chia Jia Yu (6B)

Emma Kwee (3A)

Josephine Anthony (NC)

Quek Hwee Chen (NC)

Please “like” TTSH Nursing Facebook page for more nursing updates and photos!

2013 Nurses’ Day Awards DN/BEST SuPErvISOr AWArD: NC Lim Meow Gek (Subacute Ward 8)

BEST BuDDY AWArD: SN Wong Seng Loong (Ward 7D)

ExTrAOrDINArY NurSE AWArD: NM Laley Bin Senawi (5D)

SN Oslee Omar Kwang (11C)

ExCELLENT SuPPOrT STAFF: Snr PSA umayesvary D/O vasudevan (Subacute Ward 8)

BEST PArTNEr AWArD: Food & Beverage Services

vISION 2016 TEAM AWArDS:Embracing 4 Pillars & Great Place for Healing Award: Subacute Wards

Great Place for learning Award: Ward 10DGreat Place for Working Award: Ward 5A

Great place to become the Best award: Ward 7D

SPIrIT OF NurSING ExCELLENCE AWArDS:SN xavier Suvisesa Muthu Maria Christy (8B)

SN Farlinda Jaafar (11D)SN Grace Loo Chin Sian (10B)

SAN M Kowsula Kaur Patel utkar (Clinic 5A)AN Bustamante Sozein Soliel (7D)

NC Sui Huangbo (5A)

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