I’m a nurse. Ask me anything about nursing

[encourageSome1]

Ish still goot marnee to build for retirement

Hard work for deserving $ .. ok la better than jlb get paid for nothing done and only monitoring ? Or just waving and shaking hand

[Tony.Manero]

Hard work for deserving $ .. ok la better than jlb get paid for nothing done and only monitoring ? Or just waving and shaking hand

That's true. Nurse is tough jod

[Philipkee]

Misconception about private ambulance

They don't carry very ill patients.
Not necessarily.  SCDF only conveys to the nearest public hospital that can handle the patient.  But if patient wants to choose his own public hospital or go private hospital, it will still be a private ambulance so the private ambulance can be handling very sick patients

[Philipkee]

Misconception on bed situation

It is rare for a hospital to be 100% full. So that is why when you look at hospital BOR (bed occupancy rate), you might see 90% instead of 100%.  So you are thinking patients are crowding in the ane so why not release the 10%?

https://www.moh.gov.sg/resources-statistics/healthcare-institution-statistics/beds-occupancy-rate-(bor)

Many reason and I might not be saying all

- inappropriate beds.  I might have 10 empty beds in the female ward and 0 in the male ward.  I have 10 male patients waiting for bed.  So it's full house but at a macro level, there are 10 empty beds.  And of cos they might be in wards catering to different specialties

- beds booked for next day surgeries.  Sometimes there really are beds available but they are booked for patients who are undergoing surgeries the next day so post op they need those beds so the beds are booked.  Sometimes these beds are released to relieve the situation in ane but this means the next day when the patient comes for surgery, the bed management will have to look for a new bed which means the problem will still be there but it's going to settled on the day of surgery instead.  Why not postpone the surgery instead?  Sometimes they do but there is the problem.  You keep postponing a "minor" operation and it might become something major eventually.

This is also why sometimes in ane, the nurse can tell you at 10pm maybe your father will be admitted tonight to the ward (no guarantees but the possibility is given) and you are wondering who is going to be discharged at night to free up the bed.  And of cos there is the less spoken possibility that someone might die and free the bed

[Arctic]

Misconception about private ambulance

They don't carry very ill patients.
Not necessarily.  SCDF only conveys to the nearest public hospital that can handle the patient.  But if patient wants to choose his own public hospital or go private hospital, it will still be a private ambulance so the private ambulance can be handling very sick patients

OOT but big respect to scdf. I was a medic during ns and trained with them. Friendly ppl they even volunteer their arms to be jabbed when the saf trainees ran out of arms to poke

[Arctic]

Duno if I had missed it but ts, what's your nursing journey/backgnd/qualification? I have a fren who went overseas for nursing degree only to become an air steward. But he was a nurse for the first few yrs thou

[Philipkee]

Duno if I had missed it but ts, what's your nursing journey/backgnd/qualification? I have a fren who went overseas for nursing degree only to become an air steward. But he was a nurse for the first few yrs thou

Joined nursing in 1995 after doing badly for o levels.  It helped that my crush was joining nursing but she quit before school started.

Diploma, advanced diploma ( emergency) degree in nursing

Worked in wards, operating theatre and emergency department

[encourageSome1]

How does a human or nurse decide before he goes to a course that he likes a certain organisation or a certain hospital over all e rest today ? Which of these r most impt to a new nurse usually ? Remuneration / benefits / type of care they would like to render / workplace culture / patient profile ?

@Philipkee ts nv read my post eh 🫣😅

What attracted u to stay on in this profession?
If you can retrain for x years and be anyth else  , what else would u like to be ?
If yr co give u one year block leave what would you do with it ?

[Philipkee]

@Philipkee ts nv read my post eh 🫣😅

What attracted u to stay on in this profession?
If you can retrain for x years and be anyth else  , what else would u like to be ?
If yr co give u one year block leave what would you do with it ?

Thought I answered lol but anyway

1). The stability, pay and the human factor.  I am not a machines person so I like to deal with humans as opposed to documents.  That's why emergency nursing appealed to me as opposed to ward and operating theatre

2). Retraining?  I am happy where I am but if I could restart my career, I might have migrated earlier.  Now the push factor is no longer there

3). Can't say for block leave but 2004, I quit to backpack and rejoined nursing five months later.  2018 I had two months plus of leave to travel (including no pay leave).  So if I were give one year block leave I would probably travel.  How much and where would depend on whether I was fully paid, half pay or no pay.

[Philipkee]

How does a human or nurse decide before he goes to a course that he likes a certain organisation or a certain hospital over all e rest today ? Which of these r most impt to a new nurse usually ? Remuneration / benefits / type of care they would like to render / workplace culture / patient profile ?

The most important things imho are remuneration and benefits.  We don't ask for much but once it's settled, culture and patient profile.  So we don't need the highest pay but should be shortchanged.

Patient profile doesn't necessarily mean fierce patients.  Some like women as in obstetrics, some like children, some like elderly, some like only surgical patients etc.

Which hospital one works at is not that important within Singapore cos pay is roughly the same, benefits are roughly the same so it's colleagues, culture and location.  Culture, unless it's toxic, is just a matter of getting used to it.

[老曾记]

Joined nursing in 1995 after doing badly for o levels.  It helped that my crush was joining nursing but she quit before school started.

Diploma, advanced diploma ( emergency) degree in nursing

Worked in wards, operating theatre and emergency department

Wah 29 years of nursing life. Respect u can stay so long.

[Philipkee]

Wah 29 years of nursing life. Respect u can stay so long.

I joined a few years before the asian financial crisis so nursing was really the dumping ground.

Now, it seems like it was the right choice and I am inching closer to retirement liao

[encourageSome1]

I joined a few years before the asian financial crisis so nursing was really the dumping ground.

Now, it seems like it was the right choice and I am inching closer to retirement liao

As a fellow ss/bbfa what work / life / dating / financial tips would u give us/ yr younger self if u can turn back time 5-10 years ago ?

[Philipkee]

As a fellow ss/bbfa what work / life / dating / financial tips would u give us/ yr younger self if u can turn back time 5-10 years ago ?

I read somewhere this but I kind of agree.  It's just this statement "it's just a job"

It was made by someone to a group of nurses and then there was the usual protests "it's a calling", "we save lives" etc etc

But after the talk, even nurses were convinced, it's just a job.  Do not destroy your life and dreams because of nursing.

So if I could tell myself 10 years ago, I would say try harder to find a life partner.

I will tell you a true story.  Not the fake story cos it doesn't involve patients but of cos I won't give details.  I started looking for a wife in 2020 cos Covid came and there were border restrictions so I had the time and money to go to viet matchmaking agency to look.  2020 turned to 2021.  I finally got a match but there was no meeting just video call cos of border restrictions.  So i actually asked a friend "I always said can wait for next year to get a wife.  Did I wait one year too long?"

Border restrictions ended but things happened and that match was no longer a match.  So I am still looking.

So yes, I would tell my younger self to look for a life partner earlier and not just say "next year" cos one day, your "next year might be one year too late".

[Philipkee]

As a fellow ss/bbfa what work / life / dating / financial tips would u give us/ yr younger self if u can turn back time 5-10 years ago ?

Add. Finance I can't say cos I have been investing for a long time.  It's just based on hindsight that I know which shares are up and which are down so not really fair to say any advice (if I could I would have bought game stock and nvdia in 2019).