SINGAPORE : Nurse specialists will now be called advanced practice nurses, and under the Nurses and Midwives (Amendment) Bill passed in Parliament on Thursday, they will also be allowed to perform certain procedures usually done by junior doctors.
The move will raise the status of nurses, while recognising and maximising the potential for some to take on added responsibilities.
Nurse clinician Tan Siok Bee will be one of 15 pioneer graduates of the Master of Nursing programme at the National University of Singapore.
Upon completing her internship, she will be an advanced practice nurse, able to perform physical assessments of patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests and initiate treatment.
Ms Tan, a nurse clinician at the Singapore General Hospital, said, "Having the skills doesn't mean that I will take over the doctors' role. We, as the nurse, will collaborate with the doctors and work towards a better patient outcome."
Nidu Maran Balakrishnan, a senior staff nurse at SGH studying to be an advanced practice nurse, looks forward to his new role and the greater autonomy he will be given to diagnose patients when he runs his own clinic at the hospital.
He said, "At a nurse-run clinic, patients will be able to spend quality time with a specialist nurse, bring them through the surgery and post-surgery and follow them through the wards, eliminate their anxiety; after they have been discharged, follow them up to the clinic, prevent further complications. Therefore this patient will receive a total care from one person."
Upon graduation, the nurses will be deployed to hospitals and polyclinics.
At the hospitals, they are expected to work in specialties like critical care, emergency medicine or oncology with particular emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention.
At the polyclinics, the nurses can help doctors manage patients with common acute illnesses and injuries.
Said Kaldip Kaur, assistant director of nursing at SGH, "It's a great need to have such specialised and skilled nurses in Singapore to work alongside with our physicians. However, our main role in nursing is to develop them to be the expert nurses."
And the Registrar for Advanced Practice Nurses will be doing just that; by allowing experienced and skilled nurses an alternative career track, it is also hoped good nurses will remain in the profession. - CNA /ct