Experiencing their Work as Part of Learning

Moving the needle on Patient Care through Teaching

There’s one truth about nursing that only nurses will know.

“Nurses always have an extended job scope – know more, learn more, do more,” says Assistant Nurse Educator (ANE) Chin Ke Wei.

To put things into context, she says this with several unique experiences at Farrer Park Hospita (FPH).

Sharing her early days at FPH, ANE Ke Wei said: “When I joined in 2014, I was planning user-acceptance tests for Meditech, which includes setting up medical hardware, equipment and so on. I was also involved in coaching and guiding newly recruited nurses who arrived from overseas to help them better adjust to FPH culture and the required skill sets so that they have the clinical knowledge they need to uphold nursing standards. I also had to get them familiarized with clinical procedures, new technologies and work processes.”

This was how ANE Ke Wei was eventually transferred to the Education and Training (E&T) department. E&T provides teaching of specialized skill sets, various competencies workshops as well as conducting four nursing orientation sessions on a quarterly basis. An integral role that she and her E&T colleagues have is reviewing feedback given from patients as well as management decisions that may affect each nursing department’s capabilities and key performance indicators (KPI). Thereafter, the team would plan curriculum and collaborate with nursing leaders to enhance nursing staff capabilities by closing all clinical gaps; thereby improving all departments’ KPIs annually.

Learning and Work

This sentiment was also concurred fully by Staff Nurse (SN) Juwita Binte Jumahat from the Cardiovascular Suite (CVS). She first entered nursing in 2007 after graduating with a diploma and was bonded at a restructured hospital’s oncology ward. SN Juwita said that while she had experience in interventional radiology and some 10 years of experience with cancer patients, joining FPH as a scrub nurse and assisting them in cardio surgeries was an exciting specialization switch for her that meant she could re-invent herself as a nursing professional.

The CVS is equipped with angiography equipment for cardiovascular procedures and surgeries. It also has imaging equipment with coned beam computed tomography for diagnosis and treatment, as well as hybrid facilities that combine surgical set-ups with medical imaging angiography to support minimally invasive and emergency surgeries.

Though it is not unusual for SN Juwita to be called back at night and work till past 4 a.m. on a heart surgery, she says this makes her job even more meaningful. She explains: “My part is very small but I must keep in mind that the patient’s life depends on us working well as a united team. Work may be difficult at times but as long as I have all the support from my close-knit group of colleagues, and am able to keep upgrading myself for new areas of improvement that can help every patient who needs me to do my part, it makes coming to work a lot easier!”

To help nurses like SN Juwita to hone their skills further, ANE Ke Wei and her E&T colleagues are there to see to a promising and continual career track for FPH nurses.

A Community Of Practice

During COVID-19, ANE Ke Wei were amongst the trainers who conducted briefings and teaching sessions to prepare all nurses, doctors and other staff from the Hospital and One Farrer Hotel for N95 mask fitting and donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The E&T team were also supported by Infectious Diseases specialists and other nursing peers from FPH to conduct trainings that are vital in ensuring infectious diseases control measures are strictly adhered to so as to achieve zero infections. These also equipped the response teams with the right skills to admit and conduct swabs on COVID-19 patients during their recovery.

ANE Ke Wei and her colleagues also conducted several rounds of briefing sessions to nursing teams at One Farrer Hotel, where over 100 COVID-19 patients received care in the converted facility. Before these hotel rooms were open, they were on their feet from morning till evening, holding critical briefings for multiple teams; all while ANE Ke Wei was already a few months pregnant.

As they take on this challenging, critical mission, ANE Ke Wei shared that two things kept her passion going: “First, a nursing heart, next a teaching heart."

“It is imperative in nursing education that we look for factors to shape nurses’ ongoing learning and how to most effectively sustain this learning in the dynamic and demanding work environments in which they practice,” she explained.

“I have been a nurse educator for many years. Besides the skills and knowledge we impart, we must remember that people’s lives depend on the nurses we train. This means that the patients’ lives are also in our hands. We have to help the doctors and surgeons see through the patient journey as well. Integrity and “heart” work share the same character.”