Nurses Urged to Strive and Respond to Challenges

“Nurses must find a way to respond to the challenges of our times. Nursing has a pivotal role in care and our practice profoundly impact on our patients’ experience. We must take up our role and charge. We need to strive to build a truly valued nursing profession equipped with the skills to lead a wider range of roles”. This is part of the third keynote speech delivered by Prof Claudia Lai from PolyU HK at a Nursing Colloquium on 16 August 2018. The Colloquium was held at the International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with School of Health Sciences (SoHS) 10th anniversary celebrations. The theme for this Colloquium is Embracing Change in Nursing in the 21st Century with the aim of enhancing awareness of the future direction in the nursing profession as well as to highlight strategies in meeting the needs of Nursing in the 21st century. Prof Claudia Lai’s keynote speech was one of the three keynote speeches at the Colloquium. To kick-start the Colloquium, Dato Dr Haji Bahari bin Dato Tok Muda Hj Awang Ngah from the Ministry of Health spoke about Global Health Nursing in the 21st Century: Strengthening the Workforce. This was followed by the second keynote speech by Prof Abdul Aziz Baba, Vice Chancellor of IMU, who spoke on Way Forward for Healthcare: IMU Perspective. He deliberated on six recommendations to produce healthcare professionals for a new centre, which include teaching of new content in health system science, developing flexible competency based pathways, working with healthcare delivery system in novel ways, making technology work for learning, envisioning the master as an adaptive learner and shaping tomorrow’s leaders. These keynote speeches caught the attention of approximately 70 participants who attended the Colloquium, including healthcare professionals, academics, administrators and students from both the public and private healthcare sectors. This Nursing Colloquium provided them with a platform for representatives from education, industry and policy makers, to deliberate, exchange views and experiences to be better prepared for the 21st century.

The participants also had the opportunity to join the second session of the event which was focused on the theme “Perspectives on Challenges and Expectations for Nursing in the 21st Century”. Six distinguished speakers, representing the perspectives of their repective professional bodies, academicians and stakeholders, shared their expert views on various topics relevant to future challenges and expectations for Nursing in the 21st century. They were Hjh Tumble Binti Ngadiran @Tomblow (Nursing Board Malaysia), Dr Mohd Said Nurumal (IIUM), Dr Chong Su Lin (IMU Healthcare), Elaine Ng (Parkway Group), Akhilesh Kumar (Melorita) and Prof Claudia Lai. Participants felt very privileged to hear from the six panel members of the colloquium. Feedback from the participants were very encouraging.

“Very informative and eye-opening. Speakers are all experts in their respective fields and their experience. Knowledge imparted are admirable”
“The workshop was very interesting and I hope to attend more of these type of courses /workshop”
“Well done! Have more of these type of conference for local nurses”
“Very effective and full of information that are very necessary for nurses who are upgrading themselves”
“Interesting. Brought many challenges facing the nursing profession to the fore”

In conclusion, it is evident that changes in the 21st century is inevitable. Nurses, being the largest workforce in healthcare, must adapt fast and enhance nursing competencies with new and innovative approaches to provide the best care to their patients.

This one-day event concluded with a short closing ceremony where the speakers were presented with a token of appreciation by Lim Swee Geok, Organising Chairperson and Head of the Nursing Division.