Superstar Nurse Manager – Jovy Negre Sagbigsal, Nurse Manager, St. Andrew’s Community Hospital

This is the second in mosAIC’s profile series featuring selected Singapore Health Quality Service Awards 2019 (SHQSA) Superstar Award winners. mosAIC speaks to Jovy, Nurse Manager from St. Andrew’s Community Hospital, on what keeps her going in the Community Care sector for the past 13 years.

Growing up, I developed an interest in healthcare while caring for my elderly parents. At 17, I decided to pursue a career in nursing as I wanted to do more for the elderly and be an advocate for their care and welfare.

I have been in the Community Care sector for 13 years now and I currently look after a 32-bedded ward for patients who require sub-acute, geriatric care at St. Andrew’s Community Hospital.

Being in this sector allows me to meet new people and work with people from all walks of life. More importantly, I enjoy talking to the elderly as we can learn from their wealth of knowledge and experience. It has been an eye-opening and fulfilling experience to be able to support the elderly on their day-to-day needs.

I remember caring for a patient who had a heart condition, oedema (swelling of the arms and legs due to water retention) and malnutrition. To ensure that she gets a nutritious meal, I prepared half-boiled eggs for her every morning. Egg whites are not only nutritious but easy for her to swallow as well. After a week, her appetite improved and the swelling around her arms and legs subsided. It was gratifying for me to see her regain her energy and become fit enough to resume physiotherapy.

At St. Andrew's Community Hospital, we are given opportunities to participate in health improvement projects. I once worked with a team of nurses and colleagues from the Healthcare Performance Office to brainstorm ideas on reducing falls in wards and safety measures were subsequently rolled out to prevent fall incidents. Currently, I am leading another project on the “Prevention of Blockage of Peripherally-inserted Central Catheter Line” to reduce patient discomfort.

I feel blessed and honoured to receive the Superstar Award at the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards and will continue to work on improving our care quality. Our patients should be at the heart of what we do.