Track 1

Jessie is an Advanced Practice Nurse with a deep interest in geriatric medicine, particularly dementia and incontinence as well as caregiving.

Her foray into cognition and memory work began in 2011 with the Memory Team, where she was nurse manager of the first integrated care initiative for dementia in Singapore, CARITAS icommunity@north. This programme provided leadership, training and support to over 10 community and primary care partners, enabling them to care for patients with dementia and their families as a vertically integrated practice unit. Concurrently, she saw to the inception of the first restraint-free ward adopting person centred care (PCC) for patients with delirium and dementia in KTPH.

The ward celebrated 10 years of restraint- free care in 2022.  

Recognising the growing need, Jessie and the team helped spread PCC principles hospital-wide through staff training and a roving team known as the 6^th Vital Sign Team. They adopt the “4 Ms “framework from the US Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Age-Friendly Hospital initiative and Humanitude care methodology to deliver PCC that promotes the physical and psychological well-being of these patients. 

Jessie is currently an L3-level Humanitude trainer, enhancing her skills and knowledge in caring for the vulnerable patients.  

This talk explores Humanitude, a caregiving approach emphasizing empathy, respect, and emotional connection that was developed by Yves Gineste and Rosette Marescotti in 1979. Humanitude has since been adopted globally. Notably, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital is the first acute hospital locally to implement Humanitude, showcasing its potential in acute care settings. 

In dementia care, Humanitude provides a universal language of care that: 
1. Prioritizes emotional connection: Building relationships and validating patients' emotions. 
2. Fosters person-centered care: Tailoring care to individual needs and preferences. 
3. Promotes dignity and respect: Gentle, compassionate interactions enhancing patients' well-being. 
 

The four pillars of Humanitude— Gaze, Speech, Touch, and Verticality—are central to this approach. A simple structured approach known as the sensory capture would also be introduced to guide the care of patients with dementia to provide respectful, compassionate care, grounded in the four pillars of Humanitude.  

 
By understanding and applying Humanitude principles, caregivers can deliver high-quality, compassionate care to vulnerable patients living with dementia.  

Dr Chen Wei Ting is a registered Advanced Practice Nurse in Palliative Care and is currently employed by NHG Health Population Health Campus (NHG PHC). She has strong interests in palliative care nursing, community nursing and integrated care systems. She received Master degree from the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies (ALCNS), National University of Singapore and was certified APN in 2011. She completed her PhD with NUS in 2019. She is currently the Clinical Director, NHG PHC Community Health and leads the NHG Community Health Team. She is also appointed as Adjunct Assistant Professor with NUS ALCNS, and Clinical Teacher (Graduate) with National Technological University Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. 

In today’s increasingly diverse healthcare landscape, unity across organisations and teams is not just a value—it’s a necessity. This session explores how trust, respect, and collaboration can be cultivated across healthcare settings to improve patient outcomes. 

Using examples of NHG Health Community Health Team and Care@Nursing Home, the session will examine three key dimensions: 

Breaking Barriers: How intentional relationship-building and cultural sensitivity foster trust and respect across organisations in health and social sector.  

From Silos to Synergy: Strategies for nurturing interprofessional relationships that transcend organizational boundaries will be shared. Challenges in building the synergy across agencies and organisations and steps to overcome them will be presented.  

From Policies to People: Large scale change in population health is not possible without policies. The presenter will share the process in translating such policies into meaningful human connections that directly enhance patient experiences and outcomes. 

Participants will gain insights into practical approaches for bridging cultural divides, strengthening institutional partnerships, and creating a unified care ecosystem that honors diversity while delivering excellence. 

Ms Ng Huoy Ling is currently the Assistant Director of Nursing at NHG Population Health Campus (PHC), where she leads community nursing initiatives focused on person-centred care delivery. With over 20 years of nursing experience spanning acute, outpatient, and community settings, she has consistently championed patient empowerment and family engagement in healthcare decision-making. 

As a committee member of MOH's Person-centred Care Implementation Workgroup, she plays a pivotal role in establishing Communities of Practice that make person-centred care a standard part of healthcare delivery. Her work in developing the Personalised Care & Support Planning (PCSP) programme at KTPH from 2020 to 2024 demonstrates her commitment to giving patients a stronger voice in their care journey. Currently, she is a key leader in PHC, advocating for person-centred care approaches & implementation in community settings. In addition ,she led NHG AgeWell SG screening programme, developing clinical pathways for frailty assessment and coordinating community-wide implementation of screening initiatives. 

Ms Ng's expertise in community health integration is evidenced through her leadership in various initiatives, including Hospital to Home (H2H), Community Health Post (CHP), and Care@Nursing Home programmes. She serves on the ComLink+ Social Health Integration Project under MOH & MSF, where she develops training curricula for family and health coaches to better support families' health and social care needs. 

She is passionate about cultivating patient-centric care environments and mentoring nursing professionals. Her leadership philosophy centres on empowering staff while maintaining unwavering focus on clinical excellence and positive patient outcomes, consistently demonstrating strong capabilities in workforce management and multidisciplinary collaboration.

In today's evolving healthcare landscape, creating environments where patients feel safe and empowered to participate in their care decisions is crucial for achieving optimal health outcomes. This track session explores innovative approaches and practical strategies for healthcare providers to foster meaningful patient engagement and participation in the care process. 

Through examining successful case studies, participants will discover how to implement effective communication and person-centred care framework that encourage patient voice while maintaining clinical excellence. The session delves into the fundamental principles of person-centred care, demonstrating how healthcare providers can create supportive environments that facilitate open dialogue and shared decision-making.  

This session aims to equip healthcare professionals with practical knowledge and skills to transform their practice environments into spaces where patient participation is not just encouraged but becomes an integral part of the care process. 

Yu Jing is an Advanced Practice Nurse / Nurse Clinician in General Surgery at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing from Curtin University and a Master of Nursing from the National University of Singapore. Yu Jing has led and supported initiatives that place patient at the centre of care. She began her career as surgical care nurse specialist, where she helped established a prehabilitation program for elderly surgical patients. She later contributed to the Geriatric Surgery Service, Hepatobillary surgery and now the Emergency Surgery and Trauma Service. Yu Jing has also participated in quality improvement projects focused on enhancing care delivery and patients’ outcomes. With her grounding both evidence-based nursing and patient engagement, she continues to drives improvement in patient care and service delivery focusing on shared decision making, listening to, learning from and partnering with the people they care for.  

Patient engagement goes beyond satisfaction surveys – it involves actively incorporating patient’s voice into clinical decision-making. This session explores how fostering a safe and supportive environment enable patients to contribute to care decision. Creating a safe, respectful environment enables patients to share their goals, values and preference which can directly influence their care trajectory. In this session, we will illustrate strategies, tools required to embed patient’s voices into daily clinical practice.  

Dr. Tan Hongyun, geriatric advanced practice nurse, Assistant Director of Nursing, Woodlands Health. Currently, she is leading the WH@home nursing team, and community hospital nursing team. She and her team worked with multiple stakeholders in collaboration for advocating preventive care.

Preventive care is key to reducing disease burden and promoting long-term health. Nurses play a central role by collaborating with population health teams, national health agencies, community partners, and multidisciplinary teams. 

Through these partnerships, nurses support individuals and caregivers in making informed decisions, adopting healthier lifestyles, and accessing early interventions for both physical and mental well-being. Their coordination across settings ensures continuity of care and better health outcomes. 

As trusted connectors within the healthcare system, nurses help bridge medical and community support, driving a person-centred, proactive approach to care. Their collaborative efforts are vital in building a healthier, more resilient population. 

Cherie is a Senior Nurse Manager overseeing three surgical wards, bringing extensive clinical leadership experience to her role. As the Nursing Lead in Innovation, she champions transformative healthcare solutions within her institution. She also serves as Co-lead in the NHG Health Group Nursing Innovation Office, where she drives nursing innovation initiatives across the healthcare cluster. She is currently doing her MBA and has interest in healthcare financing policies. 

As Singapore’s population ages, nursing care must evolve with technology while preserving compassion at its core. In this session, Ms Cherie Koh will share KTPH’s trials of Smart Diapers, Nobi Lamp and AI Food Imaging. She will highlight outcomes, challenges, and the way forward in integrating health technology to enhance geriatric care and nursing productivity. Attendees will gain practical insights into how digital innovations can transform care delivery for elderly patients, ensuring safety, dignity, and sustainable nursing practices. 

Prof HE Hong-Gu Linda is a Tenured Full Professor, Director of Graduate Research Programmes, Director of International Relations, and Chair of Women and Children Health Care Research Programme at NUS Nursing. She is an Executive Committee Member at the East Asian Forum of Nursing Scholars (EAFONS). Prof He’s main research areas include Women's and Children's Health Care and Chronic Disease Management. She is passionate about the involvement of technology in her interventional programmes for various clients by collaborating with multidisciplinary experts from Asian and Nordic countries (e.g. Finland, and Norway). She has received significant competitive research grants, published over 223 peer- reviewed journal articles with an h-index of 32, and delivered over 200 presentations and nearly 100 invited speeches internationally. To recognize her significant contributions to the field of nursing research, Prof. He was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) in 2021 and was selected as an Honouree of Sigma’s International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame 2023.

Track 1D examines how to maintain compassionate, human-centered care in an increasingly digital healthcare environment. The track begins by exploring innovative approaches to elderly care in the digital era, focusing on how technology can enhance rather than replace the human touch in nursing practice. It demonstrates how digital solutions can support nurses in delivering more personalized, effective care while maintaining meaningful patient connections.  

The discussion then moves to the critical balance between digital efficiency and human empathy in healthcare communication. This session addresses the challenge of depersonalization in tech-enabled care, offering practical strategies for nurses to leverage technology while preserving authentic human connections with patients. 

The track concludes by examining how senior nurses play a vital role in Singapore's evolving healthcare landscape. It explores ways to bridge generational gaps in nursing practice, promote workforce diversity, and ensure experienced nurses continue to contribute their valuable insights in shaping a future where technology and human compassion work in harmony. Throughout these sessions, the focus remains on creating a healthcare environment where technological advancement enhances rather than diminishes the essential human element of nursing care. 

Swee Hia has been pivotal in growing SingHealth’s nursing capacity and expertise over the years. She was key in developing the SingHealth Alice Lee Institute of Advanced Nursing (IAN), which has been the principal node for delivering specialisation programmes to catalyse and elevate practice-based training for nurses and healthcare support staff. In 2007, she led IAN to achieve the distinction of being accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC) as a Continuing Nursing Education Provider, the first in Asia and third outside the United States to achieve this.   

Swee Hia also played an instrumental role in leading SGH to achieve its first Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation in 2005 – the largest teaching hospital in Asia to be accorded such recognition at that time. In 2010, she led SGH to become the first Magnet hospital in Singapore and South-East Asia, a testament to the hospital’s world-class quality nursing care.   

As a key member of the former Singapore Workforce Development Agency’s Healthcare Industry Skills Training Council, Swee Hia was involved in the set-up, review and expansion of the Healthcare Support WSQ framework. She also spearheaded the Skills Training Employability Enhancement for Retrenched and Unemployed Workers (STEER) and Return-To-Nursing (RTN) programmes for Registered and Enrolled Nurses, as well as introduced the Principal Enrolled Nurses into the Enrolled Nurses Career Development Plan and the Tan Chin Tuan Nursing Award for Enrolled Nurses.   During her tenure as the President of the Singapore Nurses Association (SNA) from 2012 to 2020, Swee Hia led the SNA to win the bid to host the International Council of Nurses Congress for the first time in Singapore in 2019, which was attended by more than 5,000 nursing leaders from 120 countries.

This presentation explores how Senior Nurses “Beyond the Bedside” contributes to mentorship, innovation, policy shaping and workforce stability, ensuring nursing remains resilient and future ready. 

Their contributions have touched lives far beyond what you have count, their wealth of experience, compassion, clinical wisdom, and humanity remain deeply needed. 

This is not a return to full timework. It’s a flexible, purposeful way to give forward, share their voice and stay connected to the profession they have built. 

Because Wisdom Never Retires, Our Guiding Force for the next generation.

Dr Cheang Ka Man started her career in KTPH in 2015 as a Senior Resident in the Department of Psychological Medicine.  In 2018, she received subspecialty training in systemic family therapy in Calgary Family Therapy Centre (Canada) under the HMDP award sponsorship.  

She is the Associate Program Director for the National Psychiatry Residency Program.  She was awarded the Junior Doctor Teaching Award (NUS, 2016) and the Senior Doctor Teaching Award (NHG, 2021) for her teaching contributions. 

Dr Cheang was involved in the revision of hospital policy, launch of the Suicide Precaution and co-developed the Suicide Awareness and Management e-learn modules in YH.  She is a member of the National Suicide Screening Workgroup (2024).  

Dr Cheang aspires to strengthen inter-agency collaboration using the unique therapeutic modality in family therapy called “reflecting team process” using the two-way mirror facility in ADMC.

In today’s metrics-driven healthcare landscape, the challenge of preserving person-centered care has never been more pressing. This session, part of Track 1E, offers a psychiatrist’s lens on integrating mental health into holistic nursing practice, beginning with a simple yet profound shift: seeing patients as people, not numbers. 

Drawing from Humberto Maturana’s theories of emotional intelligence, this presentation explores how emotional understanding, empathy, and relational dynamics form the core of healing. Maturana emphasized that emotions shape how individuals experience the world — a critical insight for healthcare professionals supporting patients through vulnerable moments. Attendees will gain insight into applying these principles to cultivate deeper patient-nurse connections that honour each person’s unique journey. 

To illustrate this, case examples will be presented from the practice journey of a psychiatrist:  through collaborative care grounded in emotional attunement and trust, and creation of holding spaces for difficult emotions and “un-understandable” sufferings as processes for rebuilding of lives.   

The session will provide practical strategies for nurses to uphold individualized care while aligning with institutional KPIs, using NHG frameworks to balance safety, efficiency, and compassion. It concludes by reinforcing nursing’s pivotal role in long-term trauma recovery — supporting patients beyond the ward toward meaningful life milestones. 

This presentation is a call to action: to remember that behind every chart and KPI is a human being — a story, not a statistic. 

The presenter is a general adult psychiatrist practicing in a public hospital in Singapore who employ systemic therapy approaches in her therapeutic work, alongside pharmacotherapy.

Ms Pua Lay Hoon is the Chief Nurse of Woodlands Health (WH), Singapore’s newest integrated healthcare campus serving the northern population. With over 30 years of experience in nursing and healthcare leadership, she has played a pivotal role in shaping clinical services, talent development, and operational readiness at WH.

Ms Pua began her career in critical care at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and later transitioned into nursing education after completing her Bachelor and Master of Nursing (Education) in Australia. A recipient of the President’s Award for Nurses (2015), she is widely recognized for her contributions to nursing education, including the development of structured clinical training programs and interprofessional learning frameworks.

Her foundation in nursing education continues to shape her leadership, empowering teams through mentorship, clarity of purpose, and a deep commitment to professional growth. At WH, she oversees nursing services and drives innovative care delivery while building future-ready capabilities through strategic workforce planning.

Ms Pua envisions WH as the “Hospital of Choice,” anchored by a nursing team that exemplifies the 4Cs: Commitment, Competence, Confidence, and Cohesiveness. She also chairs the NHG Nursing Professional Development Workgroup and serves on the MOH Advanced Practice Nurse Review Committee, contributing to national standards in nursing accreditation and licensing.

Her leadership is defined by compassion, clarity, and a relentless pursuit of excellence—qualities that continue to inspire the next generation of nurses in Singapore and beyond.

In today’s healthcare, the performance or outcome is often measured by number, among them include Length of stay, waiting time. The essence of nursing can potentially be reduced to merely a statistic. The session attempts to explore how nurses can lead the transformation towards delivering value-based care, where patient centric outcomes, dignity, and patients overall experience hold equal weightage to KPIs. Discussion will include

1.     Balance KPIs with human care, where attempts to meet the organisational target will not compromise the patient centredness

2.     Reframe length of stay, from a rigid number into a meaningful quality measure

3.     Nurses as advocate of care model that drive both meaningful patient outcome and system efficiency

4.     Embed value-based care thinking so that patient can be guided on decision making in this KPI driven culture.

In conclusion, roles of nurses in reshaping the mindset of KPIs; aligning practice with value-based care, and ultimately ensuring every number reported is a reflection of a story of healing, dignity and compassion.

Mr. Zhang Ruyi is an Assistant Nurse Clinician at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital with over 18 years of experience in nursing, specializing in community healthcare and mental health. Having previously served at the Institute of Mental Health, he now leads KTPH@Home and innovative programmes for frequent emergency department attendees.

His work, particularly the Alcoholic Related Frequent Attender (ARFA) programme, has received multiple recognitions, including the NHG Research Impact Award 2022, and has been featured on national media. With a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) in Nursing and an Advanced Diploma in Mental Health, Mr. Zhang focuses on developing community-based interventions and personalised care approaches to improve patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency. 

Trauma in alcohol-related frequent attenders extends beyond the immediate physical injuries, encompassing devastating experiences such as sudden deaths of loved ones, multiple falls, violence-related injuries, and life-altering disabilities. This session explores how nurses can effectively support both patients and their families through these complex trauma recoveries in the community setting.

Drawing from five years of experience with the Alcohol-Related Frequent Attender (ARFA) programme at KTPH, we will examine practical approaches to rebuilding lives after trauma. The presentation will showcase real-world strategies for crisis intervention, family support, and long-term rehabilitation.

Through compelling case studies, we will demonstrate how sustained nursing support, combined with community resources, can transform lives - from helping patients regain dignity and independence to supporting families through their caregiving journey. Participants will gain insights into effective intervention techniques, including crisis management, motivational interviewing, and family engagement, while learning how to navigate common challenges in community-based trauma recovery. 

Cherie is a Senior Nurse Manager overseeing three surgical wards, bringing extensive clinical leadership experience to her role. As the Nursing Lead in Innovation, she champions transformative healthcare solutions within her institution. She also serves as Co-lead in the NHG Health Group Nursing Innovation Office, where she drives nursing innovation initiatives across the healthcare cluster. She is currently doing her MBA and has interest in healthcare financing policies.