01 Sep 2011
By Sheralyn Tay
When Ms Chong Lai Ling was at school, it was numbers, not nursing, that fascinated her. But when she learnt about nursing and helping the sick from a school friend, the young accountancy student decided to switch her field of study to nursing. Ms Chong, who describes nursing as a calling, is today a Senior Nurse Manager at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and a winner of the President's Award for Nurses this year.
"Nursing starts with the desire to care. When you have that, any difficulty can be managed,” said Ms Chong, who made news in 2007 when she opened her home to a leukaemia patient from China to help him save on rent.
Caring for others, she added, cuts across all barriers. “We have a nurse from India who was nominated for (SGH’s) Service Quality award by an elderly Singaporean patient who spoke only Chinese! Race, language and nationality - they are no barriers at all when you show that you care,” she added.
Not surprisingly, before this year’s prestigious national award, Ms Chong has received numerous accolades, including EXSA Star award in 2007, Healthcare Humanity Award in 2007, and Singapore Health Service Quality Star Award.
Trained in oncology (the study of cancers), Ms Chong manages the haematology and nuclear medicine ward, and ambulatory service at Haematology Centre at SGH. Her work doesn’t stop when her shift ends. She participates in numerous workgroups and support groups that aim at improving treatments and quality of life for patients. Among the many hats she wears are as leader of SGH’s Haematology Support Group, and Chairperson of SGH Community Partnership Nursing Council, which organises fund-raising activities and community outreach programmes. Since 2008, Ms Chong has also chaired the Outram Nurse Volunteer Group.
It’s not just patients who receive her care and concern. She’s also a well loved mentor to her nurses. She coaches her nurses in various projects, including research, and some of these have won awards both locally and internationally. She said that she loves it when her nurses excel.
She takes time to understand the nurses posted to her, and to find out their goals, strengths and weaknesses. Orientation for new nurses under her care go through a ward-based programme that she has developed, and which helps understand quickly how to care for haematology patients suffering from blood-related diseases. Her door, she said, is always open to her staff and she has been a mentor to many nurse leaders and nurses.
“Besides formal group teaching, I enjoy one-to-one talks with my nurses. These are usually about the soft skills - how they handled certain situations, and how could they have done things better,” Ms Chong said.
“Teaching is about the future, to pass knowledge and experience to others. By doing so, nursing knowledge can continue, which is key to good patient care.”
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