NEWS - Singapore General Hospital

08
NEWS
singapore health
May – Jun 2014
Delivering quality care
A record 2,727 health care professionals were recognised for their work at the
2014 Singapore Health Quality Service Award
Services Development Programme grant
to use endobronchial ultrasound to help
diagnose lung cancer and determine
how much the disease has advanced
more accurately.
As the Director of both the Allergy
Clinic and Asthma Programme in SGH, Dr
Koh was instrumental in setting up the
Severe Asthma Phenotype database to
help doctors understand severe asthmatics better.
Dr Koh turned to medicine as a career
because of her grandmother. A doctor
who practised till she retired at 85, her
grandmother was her “inspiration and
motivation”, Dr Koh said.
By Sol E Solomon
G
oing over and beyond the call of
duty for their patients led these
four health care professionals to
win accolades at the Singapore Health
Quality Service Award (SHQSA) 2014.
They were among the 2,727 health
care professionals – a record number
– from 17 institutions who were honoured
this year for their outstanding contributions. Notably, community hospitals and
nursing homes registered a more than 57
per cent increase in the number of winners – a strong testament to the health
care community’s shared commitment
to provide the best care for patients at
every stage of their lives.
The Singapore Health Quality Service Awards, organised by SingHealth, is
Singapore’s first dedicated platform to
honour health care professionals who
have delivered quality care and excellent
service to patients.
Dr mariko Koh, Superstar (Clinician)
Dr Mariko Koh is a Senior Consultant
with Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH)
Department of Respiratory and Critical
Care Medicine. She also heads the hospital’s Allergy Centre, Pulmonary Function
Laboratory, and Asthma Programme;
takes on research; and teaches at the
NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Despite her many responsibilities, Dr
Koh is, at heart, a clinician who always
puts her patients first. “Good patient care
starts right from the beginning – from the
moment patients enter the hospital compound, till post-treatment and aftercare.
It is about total and complete care,” said
Dr Koh.
To have a clear idea of her patients’
conditions, she puts herself in their shoes,
listens closely, and tries to understand
their circumstances.
“It helps to understand the patient’s
perspective, to really listen and to have
their best interests at heart. It is about
being patient-centric,” she said.
Being patient-centric also means
looking for better ways of treatment.
Dr Koh, who has been actively involved
in clinical research on asthma and
lung conditions, received $1.3 million
in funding support from the Ministry of
Health (MOH) to perform a novel procedure, bronchial thermoplasty, to reduce
the frequency of asthma attacks and
improve overall asthma control in people
suffering from severe asthma.
She also received an MOH Health
Photo: zaphs zhang
Mr Mazlan Senawi, Star (Allied Health)
His work can be laborious. And he has there. After her discharge, he was able to
been doing the same job for the last nine help her with the exercises that he learnt
years. Yet, Mr Mazlan Senawi (far left), as a volunteer.
Senior Therapy Assistant, Ang Mo Kio“At that point, I realised that I enjoyed
Thye Hua Kwan Hospital (AMK-THKH), helping elderly patients, so I decided to
continues to look forward to work at the work at the hospital.”
community hospital each day.
Mr Mazlan, 48, treats his elderly
“I’m always happy at work, and I’m patients as though they are his parents.
always looking forward to meeting my When they are depressed, he gives them
elderly patients,” said Mr Mazlan. “My “a little tender loving care” or “sayang” in
parents taught me to treat every individ- the Malay vernacular.
ual with respect, and patients can sense
“The elderly have mood swings. So
if you’re genuinely nice to them.”
it’s very important to talk to them nicely,
Always ready with a smile, Mr Mazlan slowly, and to listen to them. You’ll build
has had plenty of experience dealing with their trust, (you’ll get to know) what probthe old.
lems they’re facing. Once they trust you,
The youngest of 10 children, he took it’s not hard to get them to do their exerit upon himself to care for his parents in cises,” he said.
their old age.
A former hotel chef, Mr Mazlan has marHe volunteered at AMK-THKH as a ried his passion for cooking with his currehabilitation assistant to see how “the rent calling by conducting weekly group
staff helped patients” when his late therapy cooking classes for patients.
mother was recovering from a stroke
Kneading dough and cutting onions
Good patient care
starts right from
the beginning –
from the moment
patients enter the
hospital compound,
till post-treatment
and aftercare.
Medicine, she said, is a learning process. In that regard, teaching younger doctors has helped Dr Koh in her perpetual
quest for better patient care.
“When I teach them, I also learn from
them. We are always striving to find ways
to improve patient care,” she said.
are forms of exercise therapy for
patients, who may be recovering from the
debilitating effects of stroke, fractures
or amputations.
In his classes, he teaches the
patients how to make pizza, prawn
noodles, goreng pisang and ondeh-ondeh. He also holds separate classes for
dementia patients. “They all look forward to the class, and everybody participates,” said Mr Mazlan. The classes
not only help patients physically but
also allow Mr Mazlan to interact better
with them.
A part of his job involves working
with the hospital’s occupational therapists, and helping to break in new therapy assistants.
“We are a team,” said Mr Mazlan, who
stressed that the award recognising him
for good service should include all his
colleagues. “I am just happy to be of service to my patients. It is my job.”
May – Jun 2014
NEWS
09
MS Fan Zuoxia, Gold (nursing)
and advice, and her team visits homes
after work too.
Besides her hospital work, Ms Kang
trains confinement nannies to care for
babies and assist mothers to breastfeed.
She sits on many committees, including
the Association for Breastfeeding Advocacy, Singapore.
She has even produced a breastfeeding video endorsed by the Health Promotion Board, and in 2010, developed a
flip chart on breastfeeding and wrote the
book Successful Breastfeeding: A Practical
Guide. She regularly contributes to magazines too.
Despite her heavy schedule, the
youthful 62-year-old said: “I enjoy my
work. I don’t feel tired. I can go on from
morning until midnight.”
In order to go the extra mile when asked
to perform a task, one should ask “Why
not me?” instead of “Why is it me?”, said
Ms Fan Zouxia.
For the Enrolled Nurse at Thomson
Medical Centre’s (TMC) maternity ward,
this means doing everything possible to
make the mothers happy. She teaches
new mothers the essentials, like the correct way to hold a baby, change diapers,
and breastfeed. New mothers are often
anxious about breastfeeding, and they
can get distressed if they have problems
with inverted nipples or heavily engorged
breasts, for instance.
Ms Fan understands their disappointment when their initial efforts to breastfeed fail. “I feel happy whenever I see a
mother under my care succeed in breastfeeding. It feels especially rewarding to
see them embrace their new parenting
role and be able to be part of a family’s excitement in welcoming their new
bundle of joy,” said Ms Fan, 32.
Ms Fan, who is from Harbin, China,
used to spend her weekends at the hospital where her aunt worked as a nurse.
She had hoped to train as a teacher,
but after witnessing the recovery of a
patient, changed her mind.
Unable to walk when he was admitted to the neurological ward, the stroke
patient regained his mobility after
about a month of care. Seeing how the
nurses looked after the patient led
Ms Fan to appreciate the importance
of good care and the role of nurses.
Also, seeing the gratitude that Ms
Fan’s aunt received from the patient
reinforced her conviction to work as
a nurse.
In Ms Fan’s two years at TMC, she has
received more than 70 compliments. She
said it was the newborn babies – or more
accurately, how they looked at her – who
drove her to do her best at work.
“Babies are very expressive although
they are unable to speak yet. They communicate with their eyes and it’s amazing how they seem to be able to understand what we say sometimes.”
Photo: zaphs zhang
Photo: Mt Alvernia Hospital
Ms Kang Phaik Gaik, GOld (Nursing)
Not being able to breastfeed can worry
a new mother. But when she eventually
does, the feeling can be overwhelming,
not just for the mother but the nurses who
have helped her overcome her difficulties.
“On our part, we feel rewarded and
very fulfilled to have been able to help
these mothers. When we go the extra mile
for our patients, they remember us for a
lifetime,” said Ms Kang Phaik Gaik, Senior
Nurse Manager, Parentcraft/Lactation,
Mount Alvernia Hospital.
When interest among new mothers to breastfeed grew in the 1990s,
the hospital looked to Ms Kang, then a
ward sister, to specialise in teaching and
guiding mothers. Today, she is a lactation specialist, renowned both at home
and abroad.
Ms Kang became a nurse out of practical considerations. Both her parents
were diabetics, and none of their 11 children knew how to care for them. Seeing
the care that nurses gave their father at a
hospital, she decided to train as one. Ms
Kang qualified as a nurse in Scotland, and
when she moved to Singapore, began
working at Mt Alvernia Hospital – her first
and only employer in the city-state.
With more than 500 babies delivered
at Mt Alvernia each month, Ms Kang and
her team are kept busy round the clock.
About 100 mothers on average return to
the hospital as outpatients to get help
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