March 11, 2017

​

Health is important to ensure the quality of life, where doctors and nurses play a pivotal role in helping people attain optimal health.

​

However, not many are willing to take nursing as a profession in their career path.

​

This is a matter that concerned Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman(UTAR) Lecturer, Liew Siew Fun.

​

“Recently, statistics has shown that around 60 percent of the families in Malaysia has at least one senior citizen with non-commicable disease. These includes diabetes, hypertension, asthma among others,

​

“These diseases are difficult to be controlled, and is the reason why the healthcare sectors need more nurses who have underwent specialized training,” she said during an interview in UTAR Heritage Building.

​

Nurses not only have to master Nursing Science, but must also have the kindness and dedication in tending to a patient’s needs.

​

“The biggest reward for a nurse does not come in monetary form. When you see a patient recover from a disease, it is truly fulfilling and satisfying – a feeling that cannot be described merely by words,” said Liew.

​

“When the job spectrum is great, opportunities for nurses will increase as well,”said Liew.

​

Nurses are not limited to work in clinics or hospitals, but have a number of opportunities as well.

​

Upon graduation, nurses can look for jobs in nurse homes, Military medical services, school health, occupational health, legal consultants, insurance industries and others.

​

“Students who have studied nursing can also work in pharmaceutical industries, as they have knowledge on Biology and Chemistry, to a certain extent,” said Liew.

​

UTAR is committed in building up quality nurses, as the university spent a substantial sum of effort and money on nursing facilities.

​

“In 2011, the nursing course in UTAR had gained accreditation from the Ministry of Health. We are proud to announce that Angela Ong, one of our recent graduate last year, had an outstanding result in the professional test set by Lembaga Jururawat Malaysia(LJM),” said Liew.

​

After four years studying Nurse Science in university, students must take LJM’s professional paper to qualify as a nurse.

​

Nursing students do not only focus on book knowledge, but are also required to learn about Sociology,language, and psychology of human behavior.

​

“To give proper healthcare, medical practitioners should seek to understand a patient’s culture, values, family background and habits, in order to give advice on how to change their health habits, for a healthy lifestyle,” said Liew.

​

The university is currently building a hospital in its campus at Kampar.

​

“The Hospital, with the name Hospital Sultan Azlan Shah, is set to be completed by 2021. It will provide health service for the students here, while the medicine, nursing and traditional Chinese medicine students can come here to do their industrial training,”said Liew.

​

In the Faculty of Medicine and Healh Sciences of UTAR Sungai Long campus, only 15 students are recruited yearly.

​

This is to ensure sufficient attention, and quality training.

​

“In Sungai Long, the ratio of a lecturer to a nursing student is one to one. This is to allow more interpersonal amd interprofessional interaction among students and lecturers,” said Liew.

​

UTAR Sungai Long made a simulation ward for the medicine and nursing students, which is very close to an actual hospital.

​

“Students get simulation training to be a quality nurse. They learn how the professional surgeon washes their hands, as even the basin is simulated. And the high fidelity mannequins are also nearly the same as an actual human,

​

“The baby mannequin has heartbeat and the weight of a normal infant. The adult mannequin has skin like a human, heartbeat, and can even perspire and talk,” said Liew.

​

These facilities were meant to train the students’ skills, knowledge, analytical skills, and their ability to react and respond during critical situations.

​

“There are less boys who studied nursing. From my experience, boys are usually more calm in making judgement and decisions. The Accident and Emergency Unit and the Intensive Care Unit(ICU) has a high demand for male nurses,” said Liew.

To study nursing, students are required to have a certain level of mastery in Biology and Chemistry in their secondary and pre-university qualification.

​

For more details, aspiring Nursing students are welcomed to enquire at UTAR website.