Non-medical Care Services Provided by Nurses to Patients

NOTICE PAPER NO.1450
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 7 NOVEMBER 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang
MP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 2294

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether nurses are required as part of their job scopes to provide services beyond medical care to patients; (b) if so, what training is provided to nurses to do so; and (c) whether nurses are appraised based on the quality of such non-medical care services provided.

Written Answer

The model of nursing care differs between jurisdictions. In Singapore, our nurses develop competencies that empower them to lead in team-based practices, as well as to work in extended settings beyond ward-based care and into the community, where they are increasingly adopting trans-disciplinary roles which expand their scope of work to preventive and rehabilitative care. Senior nurses like nurse clinicians also conduct case management and care coordination to help integrate care services across settings, such as from acute hospitals to the community. Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) can perform collaborative prescribing and other expanded clinician roles. Finally, nurses take on expanded roles in education and research, which go beyond direct patient care.

Nurses are appraised wholistically based on their different responsibilities, within the local model of nursing care.