WorldSkills Singapore 2012: Always with the Patient in Mind

By Ho Khin Wai, Year 2, Diploma in Banking & Financial Services

Meet Gladys Aw and Audrey Foo, two of our NYP competitors in this year’s WorldSkills Singapore 2012, where they represented NYP in the competition area of ‘Caring’. They worked as a team against other teams from the various educational institutions. 

These second year Diploma in Nursing students from the School of Health Sciences (SHS) have come a long way to be part of WorldSkills Singapore 2012. For both Gladys and Audrey, enjoying the whole experience is just as important as winning awards.

I caught up with the girls during Day 2 of the competition at ITE College West.  When asked how they thought they had fared in the item they had just completed, they humbly replied, “We did our best.” It was an intense round, as Gladys and Audrey were tasked to deliver a thirty-minute training programme on Diabetes to a patient and her caregiver while constantly being assessed by a panel of judges.
 
Their meticulousness, positive attitude and passion for caring pulled them through the round successfully. Tears of joy were seen rolling down their faces as they emerged from the competition arena, and then proceeded to hug their coaches, families and friends who came to support them.

Said Audrey, “What was challenging was the communication between us and the patients. We have to be prepared for their responses and try to administer the best care that we could give them. There were those little surprises as well, that had us on our feet…but we managed to complete this round!”

For both the girls, they have learned that “what is done is done”. Regardless of how they fared in past performances, they would not to dwell on these issues and move on. Most importantly, they have learnt to be more patient-centered, and to always have the patient in mind as top priority.

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This year, NYP is proud to have four of our students from the Diploma in Nursing to be taking part in WorldSkills Singapore 2012! Besides Gladys and Audrey, the other two competitors are Yeo Min and Eri Fara Tsuboi. All the best, NYP gals!

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	Khin Wai is an NYP Year 2 Banking and Financial Services student from School of Business Management (SBM). He started writing for NYP Portal in 2011 out of interest and was soon "addicted" to it. He has also written book reviews for Straits Times YA Classified. Besides writing, he loves singing and has performed for various events in NYP under NYP Soundcard.