A Nurse Like No Other

By Eunice Lai (Source: Theurbanwire.com)

Reporting on patients, making rounds and ensuring that the patients are comfortable – Who says only girls can do all these tasks?

Second-year Nursing student Teo Koon Teck, 24, believes that nursing allows him to meet and interact with people from all walks of life.

The life lessons gained from his work experiences with his patients often become the topic of the conversations he has with his family, especially his younger siblings and relatives.

“Youngsters think they are invincible and often do things recklessly, landing themselves in the hospital. What they don’t take into consideration is when they encounter a mishap, their family suffers as well,” he says.

Despite the rigorous physical and mental requirement of the job, Koon Teck finds it especially rewarding when patients under his care recover.

“When a patient is discharged, the appreciation you get is different from the one you get by doing a friend a favour. You know you’ve just helped someone recover from his illness and there is a sense of satisfaction.”

Fellow second-year Nursing schoolmate Mohamed Ridzuan B. Sulaiman, 24, took up this course as he felt compelled to help those in need.

He says, “I have the knowledge and skills, but what’s most important is how I make use of it to help people.”

“In a hospital, there are always patients with financial difficulties and have various issues to deal with. This drives me to find the best possible way to help them.”

MISSY SISSY
An informal check found that there are currently about 20 final-year male nursing students, as compared to 200 female students.

Ridzuan says, “A female nurse is known as a missy, so a male nurse would then be called a sissy!”

Koon Teck feels this stereotype should be addressed. He says, “It depends on the individual. You don’t have to be feminine to show care and concern to patients.”

Stressing on gender equality, Koon Teck adds, “Why make nursing a female job? Ladies can take up the guys’ jobs, so why not the other way round? There are women engineers, chefs and lawyers, and that doesn’t make them manly. So how would men taking up nursing make them feminine?”

He adds that although women may be perceived as more attentive, there are certain things which men can do better.

“Some patients are heavy and a man’s strength is needed to carry them out of their beds. In terms of showing care and concern, the guys don’t lose out to the ladies.”

Both agree that jobs in the healthcare industry should be gender-blind, since they feel that passion is all one needs for the job.

“It all depends on your heart and mind. If you have the heart and the correct attitude, where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

As part of their academic requirement, nursing students in NP are attached to a local medical care centre where they put what they have learnt from class to practical use.

THE BENEFITS
Both Koon Teck and Ridzuan agree that interaction with the patients has positively influenced who they are as a person.

“Every day we encounter different types of patients who are in pain. But people don’t see the hidden problems they’re going through, like financial difficulties and family problems,” Koon Teck says.

To those who are afraid of being stereotyped as a “sissy”, Koon Teck and Ridzuan have this to say: It is time to rid those worries and rise to the occasion.

“Initially, it might be difficult as people might not understand your decision. But don’t be overly conscious of what others say. They would come to realise that nursing is hard work eventually and respect you for that,” Koon Teck says.

He adds that there are insufficient men in this growing industry, which might be an advantage for those who choose to seize the moment since a 34 percent increase of public health-care nurses is expected within the next five years.