[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/no-longer-just-handmaidens-to-doctors-nurses-take-on-more-leadership-roles\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/no-longer-just-handmaidens-to-doctors-nurses-take-on-more-leadership-roles\/","headline":"No longer just handmaidens to doctors: Nurses take on more leadership roles","name":"No longer just handmaidens to doctors: Nurses take on more leadership roles","description":"Dr Brigitte Woo, research fellow at NUS Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies (NUS Nursing), grew up with a nurse for a mother who inspired her to pursue nursing instead of medicine.\u00a0 \u201cShe was a visionary nursing leader,\u201d Dr Woo says. \u201cShe had a grand vision of how we would one day see nurses in […]","datePublished":"2021-10-11","dateModified":"2022-04-16","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/#Person","name":"Rachel Teng","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/","identifier":367,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1633960558461_No_longer_just_handmaidens_to_doctors_Nurses_take_on_more_leadership_roles_Credit_SingHealth_1280X626px.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1633960558461_No_longer_just_handmaidens_to_doctors_Nurses_take_on_more_leadership_roles_Credit_SingHealth_1280X626px.jpg","height":626,"width":1280},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/no-longer-just-handmaidens-to-doctors-nurses-take-on-more-leadership-roles\/","commentCount":"3","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/no-longer-just-handmaidens-to-doctors-nurses-take-on-more-leadership-roles\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2026-09-07 15:26:35","description":"Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"skapa binance-konto","url":"https:\/\/www.binance.bh\/register?ref=IXBIAFVY"}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/no-longer-just-handmaidens-to-doctors-nurses-take-on-more-leadership-roles\/#Comment2","dateCreated":"2026-08-01 21:11:37","description":"Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Binance\u63a8\u8350","url":"https:\/\/accounts.binance.com\/register\/person?ref=JW3W4Y3A"}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/no-longer-just-handmaidens-to-doctors-nurses-take-on-more-leadership-roles\/#Comment3","dateCreated":"2026-05-30 05:52:52","description":"I don't think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article. https:\/\/www.binance.info\/sl\/register?ref=I3OM7SCZ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Registrera","url":"https:\/\/www.binance.bh\/register?ref=IHJUI7TF"}}],"about":["Community","Health & Wellness","Local","Singapore"],"wordCount":1334,"keywords":["babies","brigitte woo","chong yap sang","community","covid-19","doctors","elderly","healthcare","midwifery","nurses","nursing","pediatrics","postgraduate","research","shefaly shorey","zhou wentao"],"articleBody":"Dr Brigitte Woo, research fellow at NUS Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies (NUS Nursing), grew up with a nurse for a mother who inspired her to pursue nursing instead of medicine.\u00a0\u201cShe was a visionary nursing leader,\u201d Dr Woo says. \u201cShe had a grand vision of how we would one day see nurses in academia and politics.\u201d\u00a0Today, the picture that Dr Woo\u2019s mother had painted of nurses has become a reality. They are now researchers, clinicians, educators, and administrators.\u00a0\u201cNurses are now moving up the value chain. They are now more focused on care planning and management, rather than simple care delivery,\u201d says Dr Chong Yap Seng, Obstetrician and Dean of NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.\u00a0Early this year in July 2021, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced that the Singaporean government hopes to have up to 700 Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) in Singapore who are licensed to prescribe medication for patients by 2030.\u00a0\u201cAPNs are trained in the diagnosis and management of common acute and chronic medical conditions,\u201d says Dr Zhou Wentao, an APN and Programme Director of the Master of Nursing Programme at NUS Nursing.\u00a0\u201cWe have APNs working in primary care, acute care, and community care settings, specialising in paediatrics, elderly care, cancer care, mental health care, and beyond,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u00a0While nurses in the past were purely trained based on direct clinical needs, healthcare professionals these days are being trained based on the needs of our ageing population.\u00a0\u201cDoctors nowadays have to receive medical inputs not just from nurses but also from allied health professionals like physical therapists, pharmacists, and occupational therapists,\u201d says Dr Woo.\u00a0Nurses critical in shift to community care\u00a0A key driver of this healthcare reform is our ageing population, with which chronic conditions are expected to rise. According to Dr Woo, current hospital-based, doctor-centric models of care will thus become unsustainable.\u00a0When patients with chronic conditions are sent for specialist consultations every time their symptoms act up, this not only chokes up limited hospital facilities but also racks up big bills for patients.\u00a0\u201cWe are looking to move stable patients with chronic illnesses that can be managed safely, from acute settings such as tertiary hospitals, into community facilities such as polyclinics,\u201d she says. \u201cThese are situated within neighbourhood estates and are much more accessible and affordable for patients.\u201d\u00a0Dr Zhou Wentao (right) sees a patient with Parkinson\u2019s disease at her home. (Photo courtesy of Singhealth)By skilling up nurses, \u201cone-stop-shop\u201d clinics run by trained APNs can save patients trips to polyclinics and hospitals for their multiple conditions. Each patient saves up to three trips per year to the hospital.\u00a0The Covid-19 pandemic has helped catalyse this evolution of consultation modes, extending physical patient-doctor visits from six-month intervals to up to two years, according to Dr Zhou.\u00a0Consultation sessions at APNs are not only more affordable but also longer in duration as compared to physician consultations, which are known to be notoriously short. \u201cThis gives APNs a chance to build rapport with the patient, and properly educate the patient on how to manage their conditions on a day-to-day basis,\u201d says Dr Woo.Having conducted research on patients\u2019 understanding and comfort levels with APNs, Dr Woo highlights that nurses are often able to establish a better rapport with patients, allowing them to provide holistic care, compared to doctors whose focus is more on diagnosis.\u00a0\u201cI believe there is more intimate consultation time with the APNs, because the doctors need to see other patients. They might rush, but APNs are able to spare more time and we can discuss more issues,\u201d says one patient in her study.\u00a0According to Dr Shefaly Shorey, Assistant Professor at NUS Nursing, when doctors ask patients if they have any further questions, they will often answer \u201cno\u201d, but turn around to ask the nurse what the doctor was saying. \u201cIn fact, this is such a clich\u00e9 anecdote among nurses. It shows the trust that patients have in nurses,\u201d she says.\u00a0APNs are also branching out in homecare services. For Dr Zhou, who targets patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson\u2019s, her key role is to prevent them from being admitted to the hospital, and instead educate family members on how to manage potential complications.\u00a0This care method saves families the hassle of moving elderly patients for regular appointments, which can be quite a struggle for both the patients and their families.\u201cA lot of lifestyle management wasn\u2019t as well managed as it is now; there was more emphasis on acute care rather than chronic care,\u201d says Dr Chong. \u201cWith more and more people getting chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension, the role of nurses has become increasingly important.\u201d\u00a0Nurses in academia and politics\u00a0While the relationship between nurses and doctors might have been more top-down in the distant past, Dr Shefaly believes that formal nursing education has been crucial to a more collaborative relationship.\u00a0\u201cIn the past, nurses were purely trained based on direct clinical needs, but now we are doing state-of-the-art work through evidence-based theoretical research,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cDoctors\u2019 research focuses more on treatment and medication effectiveness, while for nurses, our research is more focused on holistic care and psychosocial modelling,\u201d she adds, highlighting the rising need for nurses and doctors to combine their expertise and knowledge on equal and collaborative grounds.\u00a0\u00a0Key surgical practices have been changed over time because of evidence-based research conducted by nurses.\u00a0While the option for nurses to pursue masters and doctoral degrees in Singapore is relatively recent \u2014\u00a010 to 15 years \u2014 it has been around in countries like the US and Australia for significantly longer.\u00a0Singapore\u2019s recent evolution in nursing education has allowed nurses to surpass societal expectations of what nurses can do, with Dr Shefaly being a prime example.\u00a0\u201cWhile nursing was a calling, I did feel limited when I graduated as I wasn\u2019t familiar with many of the terms doctors would use when discussing patient cases, which is what motivated me to pursue a PhD in nursing research,\u201d she says.\u00a0Dr Shefaly, whose specialisation is in midwifery,\u00a0 is one of the few researchers in the world working on fathers\u2019 emotional needs, and whose papers are highly cited by medical professionals worldwide.\u00a0She shared that the practice of using alcohol to clean a newborn baby\u2019s umbilical cord was discontinued due to nursing research, which showed that using cool boiled water is equally effective without having to expose the baby to alcohol at such a young age.\u00a0\u201cWe are crucial thinkers and problem solvers, and these changes only happened because nurses did not follow practices blindly just because they were written in the books,\u201d she adds.\u00a0Dr Zhou Wentao is Programme Director of the Master of Nursing programme at NUS Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, and an Advanced Practice Nurse with the National Neuroscience Institute. (Photo courtesy of NUS Nursing)According to Dr Zhou, APNs\u2019 diverse capabilities and rigorous training have additionally put nurses in a strategic position to work with other stakeholders to influence and shape Singapore\u2019s healthcare system.\u00a0\u201cA speaker at the International Congress of Nurses once mentioned that for any innovation, policy, or practice change to be effected successfully, one should always include a nurse on the team,\u201d adds Dr Woo.\u00a0Most recently, the change in policy to allow nurses in the public healthcare sector to wear a tudung with their uniforms involved gathering the opinions of many nursing leaders.\u00a0Public perceptions are slowly changingWith the pandemic, Dr Chong believes that people are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of nurses in the healthcare system, and how the lack of nurses would be detrimental to society.\u00a0\u201cWe are now winning President\u2019s awards, doing PhDs, and getting our papers published in academia. We will let our work speak for us,\u201d adds Dr Shefaly.\u00a0Luther Yiew, second-year Master of Nursing student, and his classmates. (Photo courtesy of NUS Nursing)Join the conversations on TheHomeGround Asia’s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram.\u00a0"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"No longer just handmaidens to doctors: Nurses take on more leadership roles","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/no-longer-just-handmaidens-to-doctors-nurses-take-on-more-leadership-roles\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]