Shelton Ng on the left and Joyrena Goh on the right
Joyrena Goh, a Senior Staff Nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, hoped to improve her skills and seek a breakthrough in her career after working for 4-5 years.
“I think for nurses, studying for a bachelor’s degree is a personal and professional milestone for themselves. If we want to perform more specialised work and widen our career prospects, we need to improve ourselves constantly,” said Joyrena.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Joyrena had to shoulder additional responsibilities, including performing swabs at work and ensuring that patients continue to receive proper care while complying with safety measures. However, the challenges posed by the pandemic did not weaken her motivation to learn.
She pointed out that the knowledge learned in class can be applied in practice. For example, going through the palliative care module allows her to better communicate with elderly and critically ill patients. Despite juggling work and school, her hard work paid off, graduating with First-class Honours in BSc in Nursing from King’s College London.
Shelton Ng, a staff nurse at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, shared that a bachelor’s degree is only the first step as he hopes to apply for a doctorate in nursing in the future to engage in nursing research.
Even if there were uncertainties during the pandemic, Shelton was determined to work towards his career aspirations. He studied very hard and managed to achieve first-class honours. “Nursing is a never-ending path. There will always be new knowledge and information to help us better care for our patients,” shared Shelton.
The BSc in Nursing (Top-up) programme is open for application four times a year. The first three batches of 88 students have graduated this year. Students are between 21 and 56 years old, and 40% of them have received first-class honours.
According to Dr. Susie Khoo, CEO of Ngee Ann Academy, unlike other private education institutions, the Ngee Ann Academy is a subsidiary of the Ngee Ann Kongsi, and we are dedicated to providing education to meet the needs of Singaporeans. “Ngee Ann Academy offered the nursing programme as the rapidly ageing population in Singapore will require more professional healthcare workers. This would also provide healthcare workers with the opportunity to upgrade their skills,” shared Dr. Susie Khoo.
The BSc in Nursing from King’s College London provides elective courses on palliative care. As the population ages, nurses trained in this area can better take care of the physical and mental needs of elderly patients and their families.
Unlike public universities, the BSc in Nursing from King’s College London offered through Ngee Ann Academy focuses on providing opportunities for registered nurses to upgrade their skills and applying their nursing knowledge at work. “This is one of the reasons we chose to cooperate with King’s College London. In addition to their international prestige and strong learning system, their professors are also practising healthcare professionals,” shared Dr Susie Khoo.
Read more about the story at Zaobao:
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story20210726-1173663