My mum was a nurse. So in many ways, she inspired me to become a nurse!

When I was 19, I got a scholarship from Singapore’s Ministry of Health to study Nursing. So I left my hometown in Penang, Malaysia, and came to Singapore to take a Nursing Diploma at Nanyang Polytechnic.

I joined Alexandra Hospital upon graduation, and have been growing in my career with the hospital for more than 8 years now.

I started working as a Staff Nurse for the first two years at Alexandra Hospital, and later decided to specialize in Geriatric Nursing (ie caring for elderly patients) in my third year. Alexandra Hospital sponsored my studies for an Advanced Diploma in Geriatric Care, and I worked in the Geriatric Ward for 4 years before being promoted to my current role as a Senior Staff Nurse 1 in the Medical Ward.

I’m based in a 39-bed Medical Ward for male patients, and I assist the ‘Sister’ or Nurse Manager to supervise a team of nurses and manage the daily running of the ward. I also help to conduct staff training and am responsible for the rostering of work schedules as well. We work on a rotational morning/afternoon/night shift basis.

In our ward, the majority of patients usually suffer from AMS (altered mental state) and this condition often leaves them without a sound state of mind. AMS patients may sometimes require restraint and the challenge is to ensure that they do not hurt themselves or others while we care for them.

Nurses at Alexandra Hospital are provided training to learn self-defence techniques like Aikido (Japanese martial arts) so that we will not only be able to protect ourselves but also be able to confidently handle challenging situations with patients.

In addition to AMS patients, we also frequently care for patients with pneumonia, lung, kidney and heart conditions as well.

I feel a sense of pride and enjoy being a part of Alexandra Hospital. The hospital strongly believes in empowering its staff by providing us with opportunities for continuous learning and upgrading.

For example, as part of Alexandra Hospital’s HMDP – Health Manpower Development Programme - I was given the opportunity to go on a 5-week exchange programme to work at two different hospitals in Kameda and Kobe, Japan. It was a great learning experience for me, as I not only managed to pick up the Japanese language, but more importantly, got to learn about their best practices. When I returned to Singapore, I was happy to share my newly acquired knowledge with my management and nursing colleagues at Alexandra Hospital.