31 Jul 2011
SHE can do routine medical examinations and even arrange medical tests for patients.
But Ms Aline Teh, 40, is not a doctor - she is an advanced practice nurse (APN) at Singapore General Hospital's (SGH) Pre-operative Evaluation Clinic. This is a specialist outpatient clinic where a patient's fitness is assessed before he or she goes for an elective surgery.
Before each operation, surgeons refer their patients to the Pre-operative Evaluation Clinic. Ms Teh and her colleagues will ensure that they are medically ready for the surgery.
"If they are not fit for anaesthesia, they will be referred to other specialists for optimisation and surgery will be postponed," said Ms Teh, a Singapore permanent resident who has been a nurse for 19 years.
Ms Teh, who has a Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Nursing from the National University of Singapore, has built up an impressive list of credentials.
Through the opportunities she has been given, she has been attached to Westmead, Australia, and Johns Hopkins and Duke Universities in the US, for further study in fields like aesthetic plastic surgery and endoscopy.
She has also been part of numerous research projects and received five Service Quality Awards, a Singapore Health Quality Service Award (Silver) this year and a Gold Medal Award from the Singapore Institute of Management for her good performance during her Bachelor's course.
But she shrugs off the accolades, and instead thanked Director of Nursing, Associate Professor Lim Swee Hia, for her passion and support for nurses by providing excellent learning and training opportunities for professional advancement.
The knowledge and skills gained from these opportunities empower nurses in their decision making in their clinical practice for nursing excellence.
She said nurses like her, with advanced knowledge and skills, are able to better manage patients and resources in hospitals like SGH, which is the largest employer of nurses in Singapore with close to 3,800 nurses.
She said: "Anyone wanting to do what I do should be passionate about putting patients at the heart of all they do, give patients a lot of encouragement, and be patient in allaying the fears of patients by answering all their questions as best as one can."
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