Dementia Care Training for Nurses in Nursing Facilities in Singapore

In order to maintain registration to practice medicine, continuous professional development and continuing education are formal requirements. The purpose of this paper is to identify the effectiveness of nursing professionals and how continuous education helps them in improving their performance and learning new technology. 

Since the population of Singapore is growing at a fast pace and among the aged population, the number of people suffering from dementia has increased. The role of nurses in handling dementia patients has been discussed along with the justification for the ways through which continuous education and professional development improve nursing practice. Continuous education is an educational approach that supports continuous professional development (Yang, 2019). In addition to this, training nurses also helps them to perform better and treat patients efficiently. Furthermore, the importance of continuous education and training in nursing in the country of Singapore has been discussed. In order to enhance nursing professionalism, continuous training is provided. The results obtained from the semi-structured interview showed that continuous education and professional training enhanced the efficiency of nurses. 

 

Nursing is considered to be one of the numerous professions that are changing at a fast pace. With new technologies and new trends being introduced in the healthcare sector, it is necessary for nurses to keep themselves updated. It also a requirement in order to maintain the license and be able to practice nursing. As per the research conducted by Embo&Valcke (2017), it is essential for nurses to engage in long term educational and professional development so they can assist patients with care. To ensure quality patient care is provided to patients suffering from illnesses, such as dementia, a need for training nurses has been recognized. Through a number of researches, it has been identified that nurses have the responsibility of continuing their professional training and education, so they are up-to-date with new advancements in healthcare as well as nursing advancements. Nurses play a vital role in helping patients recover, so continuous education plays a significant role in offering nurses wider opportunities and techniques to help patients.

Nurses should be well-trained with exceptional knowledge about different diseases and how to look after patients with these diseases. In order to achieve this goal, nurses have to be trained on a continuous basis. The country analyzed in this paper is Singapore, as it has a fast-growing population of aged people. In this paper, the illness that has been focused on is dementia and how continuous education and training given to nurses play an important role in helping nurses to assist these patients. As a result of population aging trend, The Institute of Mental Health in Singapore has estimated that the number of patients suffering from dementia would likely increase from 78,000 to 130,000 by the year 2030 (Yang, 2019). In order to handle the crisis of the aging population and dementia, the government has set educational and training programs for nursing in the healthcare industry.

Singapore health system has developed comprehensive continuing education for nurses in order for improving and enhancing the promotion of career and performance. This program was designed to improve professionalism in nurses’ attitudes and fulfill their advanced career development goals. With the help of these programs, nurses are able to get involved in continuous learning. In order to broaden, improve, and maintain the knowledge of nurses regarding diseases, new technologies, as well as treatment of the diseases, continuous education and training is given to nurses. The following statement could be further approved by reviewing the study of (Chappell, Sherman & Barnett, 2018), in which it has been explained that giving continuous training and providing educational facilities for nurses is considered to be highly effective due to the reason that it is able to learn essential skills and new healthcare procedures. In this way, they would also be able to keep up with new technological advancements.

With the advent of new technologies that are being introduced at a rapid pace, it has become vital to engage nurses in continuous education and training. Clinical training helps nurses to ensure that they are helping patients and performing their work efficiently. The social environment plays an important role in encouraging nurses to continue their education. This ensures that nurses are retained and attracted due to the social environment. Providing continuous education and training to nurses helps in improving the quality of nursing services (Price & Reichert, 2017). Education and training do not only facilitate patients but have also been proved effective in upgrading leadership skills in them and enhancing their job scope.

Programs created by the government ensures that nurses are trained in a way that their work-life balance is promoted. Furthermore, they are given training regarding mental health management, eldercare courses, as well as English communication training. In order to handle the aging population of the country, the government has developed strategies to help them cater to their growing needs. For this reason, the nursing workforce in Singapore is considered to be highly efficient and competitive as compared to nurses of other countries. 

The nursing force in Singapore follows a mature education model, which comprises of well-organized school education as well as valued continued education and training development program. Although there are numerous challenges faced by the government and hospital while putting in force the educational and training program, due to the supportive environment for nursing education, the challenges have been minimized. It has been analyzed after reviewing the study of (Di Simone et al, 2018), training is considered to be extremely important for nurses as it helps them in enhancing their skills. Since it has been recognized that the nursing education that was taught in the 20^th century differs greatly from the nursing education of the 21^st century. To adequately deal with the needs of patients and provide an environment of care in which they would feel comfortable, the focus has shifted towards educating nurses and offering lifelong education and training to them.

Continuous education is necessary for nurses because healthcare and medicines are evolving and changing continuously. It would help in achieving a positive patient outcome (Yang, 2019). Due to increased demand for nurses in the healthcare sector in Singapore, hospitals hire nurses from other countries. These nurses do not have adequate experience in dealing with patients; specifically, those suffering from dementia. In addition to this, it was also noted that they lack good communication skills. In order to improve their experience, they are given training and education (Yang, 2019). In this way, they can treat patients suffering from various diseases. It was also noted that due to poor communication skills, they were unable to communicate with the patients and convey their message to the healthcare professional. This happened due to the lack of training given to them.

Training consists of outside training organized by outside institutions, such as hospitals, certified professionals and inside training, which is managed by facilities. In inside training, regular training and orientation training takes place. On the other hand, outside training places emphasis on basic life support on various patients. Moreover, continuous professional development is considered to be an important part of nursing as it helps them to keep themselves updated regarding their training. This helps them to provide the best and effective care to patients. Since those patients who suffer from dementia require extra care, nurses have to continue their learning and training, which would help them to enhance their development (Yang, 2019). In nursing, lifelong education and training not only enhance their knowledge but also develops effective leadership skills. These leadership skills are essential as it helps them not only in managing and improving their interpersonal skills, but also their knowledge regarding current trends in healthcare as well as innovative technology.

The study was conducted to inform nurses about the importance of continuous education and training. It has been identified through the study that lifelong education and training enhances knowledge and develop their skills. Since nursing trends have been evolving rapidly, it is important to keep up with these trends. In this way, they would be able to provide quality care to patients and help them recover fast. Therefore, the study has placed emphasis on introducing educational and training programs to cater to the growing needs of patients. In addition to this, it is a formal requirement to receive education throughout the nursing practice to maintain a license.

Bibliography

Chappell, K. B., Sherman, L., & Barnett, S. D. (2018). An interactive faculty development workshop designed to improve knowledge, skills (competence), attitudes, and practice in interprofessional continuing education. Medical teacher, 40(9), 896-903.

Di Simone, E., Giannetta, N., Auddino, F., Cicotto, A., Grilli, D., & Di Muzio, M. (2018). Medication errors in the emergency department: Knowledge, attitude, behavior, and training needs of nurses. Indian journal of critical care medicine: peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, 22(5), 346.

Embo, M., &Valcke, M. (2017). Continuing midwifery education beyond graduation: Student midwives’ awareness of continuous professional development. Nurse education in practice, 24, 118-122.

Price, S., & Reichert, C. (2017). The importance of continuing professional development to career satisfaction and patient care: meeting the needs of novice to mid-to late-career nurses throughout their career span. Administrative Sciences, 7(2), 17.

Yang, Y. (2019). Dementia Care Training for Nurses in Nursing Facilities in Singapore (Doctoral 

Author

Ramesh Nadarajah, DBA student. Under the supervision of Dr. Ming Nguyen.