For having better skilled nurses to serve ageing population of Singapore, new courses will be launched in community health nursing and rehabilitation care in the island nation, announced Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor during her ministry’s Committee of Supply debate in Parliament.
The first course is a Graduate Diploma in Community Health Nursing which will entitle nurses with a nursing degree and a year of working experience in the community to enhance their skills. They may either take up the full Graduate Diploma in Community Health Nursing programme or certain modules, such as such as clinical decision-making, chronic disease management and community health practice.
The course will be imparted at the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at the National University of Singapore with an initial intake of 15 to 20 students.
“The part-time graduate diploma programme is designed to deepen the skills and knowledge of nurses in managing national health needs in the community,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
While speaking about the course, Dr Khor said, “The new programme will allow nurses greater flexibility in pursuing part-time study while continuing to work.”
The Minister also spoke about another course targeted at fresh Institute of Technical Education graduates that will start in April this year.
The Work-Learn Technical Diploma in Rehabilitation Care will be open to graduates who have attained NITEC in Community Care and Social Sciences, NITEC in Nursing and Higher NITEC in Paramedic & Emergency Care.
This course is for the graduates who are interested to pursue a career in therapy support as well as in-service therapy assistants looking to upskill themselves further.
“The new apprenticeship-based diploma, where a majority of the training is conducted in partnership with the employers, allows newly hired and in-service therapy assistants to take on larger roles to provide rehabilitation care to seniors, and progression in their careers as senior therapy assistants,” Dr Khor said.