Palliative Care Nurses - Shortage In Singapore

Singapore is facing a shortage of nurses.  One specific field is palliative care specialist nurses.

As of 4th September 2008, there are only about 141 nurses out of the 18,000 practicing nurses, who are specifically trained in palliative care, out of which only three are palliative care specialist nurses.

Training for palliative care specialist nurses is not available in Singapore, so Ms Sylvia Lee who is one of the three palliative care specialist nurses, did a post-masters training in the States, in New York.

The training that an advanced palliative care nurse has to go through is highly specialised and different compared to that of a palliative care nurse at the advanced diploma or certificate level.

At the advanced practice level, components like advanced physical assessment and advanced pharmacology are done at an advanced rather than just at a general level.

Thus with all the advanced training and skills acquired a palliative care specialist nurse can provide independent consultation work.

Currently, in Singapore the Dover Park Hospice and Nanyang Polytechnic offers a Certificate in palliative care nursing and an Advanced Diploma, respectively.

Although demand for palliative care nurses is expected to increase over the next few years, it remains to be seen if there will be enough supply to meet this demand.

A palliative care nurse job is a very challenging and emotionally draining job and thus could deter more nurses from joining this field.

Many of the patients that Sylvia deals with daily are nearing the end of their lives.  However, her aim as a palliative care nurse is to try to improve the quality of life during the remainder of their lives.

Despite the difficulty of the job, Sylvia says she derives a great sense of satisfaction from interacting with her patients.

And motivating her to push on…  Read the Full Story from 938live.sg