When Lathy Prabhakaran was 16, she says, she was not good at studies. She wanted to avoid doing her A Levels. So she chose to do her studies in nursing. It was something she has not regretted.
Over the years, the senior nurse clinician from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) improved her qualifications by taking up courses with scholarships and excelling in her work. On Nurses’ Day this year, Ms Lathy was one of three Indians who won the President’s Award.
The other two were Raveen Dev Ram Dev, a senior nurse clinician and advanced practice nurse from the Institute of Mental Health, and Ms Hanijah Abdul Hamid, an assistant director of nursing at Changi General Hospital.
Ms Lathy, 52, started with a certification course to be a certified registered nurse. She went to do a nursing degree from the University of Sydney and followed it up with a Masters programme from Flinders University, both on scholarships.
She took up respiratory nursing when her infant son was diagnosed with asthma. Since then, she has contributed extensively to this specialised field.
She pioneered the nurse-led Asthma Clinic at TTSH, where patients are first assessed by nurses using a detailed clerking template before seeing the doctor. She also trains nurses, medical students and GP clinic assistants on asthma care and the use of inhaler devices.
Ms Lathy, who has been a nurse for 31 years, developed TTSH’s smoking cessation programme to help healthcare staff identify and refer smokers for counselling.
She implemented the asthma counselling service at the hospital’s emergency department where patients with asthma conditions are educated on self-care.
Ms Lathy’s passion for research saw her publish at least 11 original papers as its first author, and co-author another five.
Nurse Ram Dev, 37, who has worked at IMH for 15 years, is the first male nurse at IMH to receive the President’s Award. He is a PR from Ipoh and did his diploma in nursing on a Ministry of Education scholarship at Nanyang Polytechnic. He, too, furthered his studies by doing a degree in nursing from Curtin University of Technology and a Master in Science in Nursing from the University of California.
At IMH, he supports and nurtures nurses in their training and development as psychiatric mental health nurses. He also initiated advanced practice nurse-led nursing clinical rounds, clinic sessions and group therapy for patients. Under his leadership, the advanced practice nurses have become much sought after and recognised for their clinical expertise.
As an advocate for advancing care for people with mental illness, Mr Ram Dev introduced individualised psycho-education for patients, and implemented the Patient Safety Rounds Monitoring in the mental health setting.
He said he was inspired to take up nursing in his teenage years when he used to take his grandfather for his medical appointments and realised the importance of healthcare.
The third Indian winner, Ms Hanijah, 45, was instrumental in implementing the Ministry of Health’s Clinical Practice Guidelines in Changi General Hospital, translating the guidelines into staff competencies to improve patient outcomes.
She has also developed evidence-based in-house training programmes. She also helped nursing homes in the East develop their capabilities to meet the Enhanced Nursing Home Standards and provide quality care.
In Singapore, Nurses’ Day is celebrated each year on Aug 1, the day that nursing began here. Most countries celebrate it on May 12, the birth date of Florence Nightingale.
