From X-Ray Vision to Healing Touch: What’s Your Superpower?
As we entered the exhibition hall of the Healthcare Scholarships & Career Fair 2023, we were greeted by 14 booths representing various healthcare disciplines, ranging from Diagnostic Radiography to Respiratory Therapy and many other disciplines. Students of all ages and institutions were mingling around those booths — from polytechnics to universities. They were keen to find out more about a career in healthcare.
We wondered what the healthcare scene would be like as Singapore exited the pandemic ruins. After all, we now know a career in healthcare is not a walk in the park. But as the SGExams team explored the fair, we saw excitement, optimism and interest in the students around us. These were people who were interested in a career that served others.
A Passion for Healthcare
Few careers come close to being a “passion job”, and that’s exactly what a career in healthcare is. Embarking on a healthcare career is not just a showing of a vested interest but also a sign of commitment — an ardour of making a difference in the lives of others. At the centre of the hall was the key point of the fair: scholarships! We attended one of the three talks, Charting Your Career Path in Nursing and Allied Health, where one of the speakers, Mr Clement Hong, a Senior Occupational Therapist at St Luke’s Eldercare, put it: “If you come into healthcare looking for money, expecting remuneration… then don’t expect much”. A career in healthcare is also one that requires tenacity and resilience. One doesn’t simply enter the healthcare profession and “[come out] with an illustrious 17-year career”, he quipped, referencing the respected journey of fellow panellist Ms Ong Shu Fen, an Advanced Practice Nurse at Yishun Health under the National Healthcare Group.
These exchanges give a brief glimpse into the experiences and advice shared by panels of experienced healthcare professionals during the talks. If you missed the opportunity to have your questions answered, we got you covered with some teething concerns!
How does a Healthcare Scholarship help you forge a career in healthcare?
Passion? check. Interest? check. Another highlight of the scholarship fair was the scholarships! We checked out the MOHH booth where scholarship officers were ready to answer any queries from prospective healthcare heroes. We sat down with Mr Nigel Lian and Ms Serene Tan from the MOHH team there. We first asked them why one should apply for a scholarship.
Ms Tan quickly filled us in on the key benefit of each scholarship that MOHH offers: the Scholars’ Development Framework. As scholars pursue their education, they are given further opportunities to broaden their horizons and understand what it feels like to embark on a career in healthcare through their specialisations. Each scholar will be tagged to a scholarship officer to guide them and check in with them regularly.
Scholars pursuing their studies can look forward to
- participating in initiatives offered by the Singapore Healthcare Society,
- tapping on a development fund to attend conferences and seminars (even those overseas!), as well as
- attending engagement sessions with senior healthcare professionals and management.
All this is to say that scholars can expect to receive great deals of support from MOHH and fellow scholars. With each scholarship tailored to the scholar, scholars have the immense latitude to explore their interests, broaden their views, and sharpen their skills as they grow with the profession. Mr Rajendran Rajesh, an Integrated Nursing Scholar who just completed his two years of National Service as a Combat Medic, affirmed the value of building a vast network of connections. While speaking of his experiences as a scholar, he shared: “Being a scholar is definitely humbling; there are many opportunities to meet more experienced people and peers, and it is valuable to learn something from them.”
Even before embarking on his university education, Mr Rajesh had already completed stints spread across many areas of healthcare.
How do I know which scholarship is suitable for me?
Everyone has heard of the clinical scholarships: those aimed at our to-be medical professionals such as doctors, nurses and allied health practitioners who work closely with patients. But did you know that administrative scholarships are also available? The administrative scholarships are aimed at healthcare administrators who work behind the scenes to ensure that our healthcare system remains efficient and reliable. There are roles in data security, finance, operations and outreach, to name a few.
Speaking to a data scientist from the Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), an organisation dedicated to keeping our healthcare processes seamless, we were surprised to find out that there were elaborate systems supporting our healthcare. Her venture into healthcare administration was a passion-driven choice; she speaks for many of her colleagues.
“Compared to companies in Big Tech and e-commerce, it is the desire to make a difference”, she said. Her past experiences included being part of the team that supported Singapore’s war on diabetes.
Supporting our frontline heroes, many teams maintain and improve key technologies around healthcare institutions, like the Outpatient Pharmacy Automation System. Its implementation greatly reduced the need for pharmacists to collect medicine manually, allowing better deployment of our pharmacists to serve more patients at the front counters.
There are also teams committed to raising awareness about the health issues plaguing the nation. We also spoke to Mr Ngan Ji Cheng, a Systems Engineer from IHiS, who enthusiastically shared with us his experiences in dementia outreach and awareness programmes. “It is a very ‘people process’”, he mentions, barely containing his excitement. He has had many opportunities to educate families and the public who may be unaware of the challenges that dementia patients face and the lifestyle changes needed to support these patients better. On the importance of public education, he shares that his team’s efforts to inform families how to take care of our dementia patients have helped to reduce the need for unnecessary visits to our hospitals, which in turn relieves the strain on our healthcare system.
He was also actively involved in advocating for early dementia detection as part of the Healthier SG movement. If you have strolled past one of these roadshows at malls and heartland areas, you may have seen him!
Indeed, if you personally went around and spoke to different booths, you may find very different motivations for entering the healthcare profession, but none can stray far away from the heart. If you have the passion, there is certainly no wrong choice for a scholarship — you can be certain that there is a spot for you in the healthcare sector!
During the panel discussion, we also directed two teething questions to the speakers, who were happy to share their valuable experiences with the floor.
What are some future challenges in the healthcare sector, and how will I be prepared for them?
As Singapore exits the Covid-19 pandemic, we are reminded of the challenges the healthcare sector has faced along the way and will face in the future. So, we set out to ask difficult questions to the healthcare professionals around us.
On this question, the panel from Charting Your Career Path in Nursing and Allied Health unanimously agrees that a career in healthcare is not easy. Ms Tan Bee Yee, Director of the Allied Health at SingHealth Community Hospitals, warns that healthcare is a challenge.
“You need a lot of strength mentally, physically and intellectually; to think on your feet and to know what to address,” said Ms Tan.
Our ageing population, coupled with the increasing prevalence of people living with chronic illnesses, means that there is an ever-increasing rise in demand for healthcare. Ms Tan also cites the predicament that the healthcare sector is currently facing.
“It is not just about taking care of patients, but also about education, to ensure that there are future generations of healthcare workers to come,” she shared.
It is not all gloom, however. Ms Tan reassures the room that “schools work very closely with the industry to establish what is needed”. Healthcare students will continue to embark on clinical experiences throughout their studies to prepare them for when they step into the profession.
“There are seniors, other health professionals, and allied health workers working together as a team”, she adds, so that healthcare workers will never face challenges alone.
So… how do I know if a career in healthcare is right for me?
In the talk, Charting Your Career Path in Nursing and Allied Health, Mr Clement Hong responds by reiterating the importance of dedication.
“It is not just that we don’t have enough hands, but it’s also about finding people with the heart and the skills to provide that kind of care. If you have such a desire, we will be able to help you grow and nurture as you step into the profession,” Mr Hong said.
Reflecting on her journey as a nurse, Ms Ong reminds prospective healthcare scholars that “it’s not going to be easy.” As she recalls the early parts of her career, she too, faced challenges back then. Ms Ong tells us that one of her greatest struggles was adjusting to shift work, which left her exhausted as she had not yet adjusted to her work hours. Yet, she persevered.
On how she managed to adapt, she alluded to the importance of a healthy work-life balance and how she learnt to draw proper work boundaries, which was essential to her growing maturity as a healthcare worker. Her advice for prospective healthcare workers is also one from the heart.
Be resilient, remember the first love for why you chose nursing or to be part of the healthcare profession. What really keeps us going every day is the joy and passion of seeing [patients] get better and out of the hospitals and thriving healthily in the community.
There was much to learn about healthcare careers from a hall full of experienced healthcare heroes, but if there was one key takeaway, it’s that healthcare is a passion-driven sector. A career in healthcare is not a breezy walk in the park, but it will be a rewarding one if you have the spirit to serve. As we left the hall, we were relieved to know that the future of our healthcare sector is in the good hands of bright-eyed youths, ready to take up the challenge, ready to Be A Force Of Change, and Be A Healthcare Scholar.
