03 Jun 2011
By: ARUL JOHN
THEY were the top students in their nursing class.
For that, Ms Rifhan Nadhirah, 22, Ms Kuljeet Kaur, 23, and Ms Hazel Manon Mani, 50, each won the inaugural annual Deloitte Award for East Asia Institute of Management (EASB) Health Sciences and $1,000 yesterday.
The Bachelor of Science in Professional Practice (Nursing) is a part-time, two-year course offered by EASB and Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, UK. It is fully accredited by the Singapore Nursing Board.
The award is given to outstanding students in the course to recognise their contributions to the nursing community and their support of tertiary education in the health science industry.
The three winners were chosen based on their academic grades, presentation skills, class participation, attendance and a positive attitude towards learning.
All three said they went into nursing to make a difference in people’s lives.
They related their experiences after the award ceremony yesterday.
During her rounds at Singapore General Hospital’s renal ward, Ms Kaur, who has been in nursing for three years, often met patients in denial.
“They often cannot accept that they have kidney failure and need dialysis. We often have to call in the renal coordinator to talk to them.
“After a few days, the patients accept their condition and go for dialysis,” she said.
Emotional patients
Some elderly patients Ms Rifhan met at Changi General Hospital had emotional issues too.
“Sometimes they are depressed and do not want to take their medication. When that happens, my colleagues and I usually talk to them and put them at ease.
“When they feel better, they take their medicine,” said Ms Rifhan, who has been in nursing for three years.
Ms Manon Mani, who has been a nurse since 1989, said patients and their families are now better informed and often question why they have to take or change medicines.
So what prompted the three nurses to upgrade?
They said they felt that difficult situations involving patients could be better handled with more knowledge.
Mr Janson Yap, regional managing director of risk services, and regional life sciences and healthcare industry leader, Deloitte South-east Asia, said: “We were discussing with EASB about recognising the life sciences industry in South-east Asia and Singapore.
“With this award, we hope that the life sciences industry will get more prominence and the stakeholders will be celebrated and motivated.”
Three new courses are in the pipeline, pending approval by the Council for Private Education.
They are the Master of Nursing, Bachelor of Science (Honours) Physiotherapy and Bachelor of Science (Honours) Medical Biosciences programmes.
The first two programmes are jointly offered by EASB and QMU, while the last one is offered by EASB and Aston University, UK.
Email: anathan@sph.com.sg
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