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Me & My Career
Leaving comfort zone to pursue passion in nursing
This is a series in which individuals share their career journeys and provide an inside look into their jobs and industries. In this interview, we look at healthcare.
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Ms Vivian Leong Wan Yee, 43, works as a senior staff nurse in a renal medicine ward at Singapore General Hospital. While she had always wanted to try nursing, her family was not initially supportive, so she worked as an engineer and then went into banking. The sudden death of a friend in 2014 pushed Ms Leong to make the switch to nursing, this time with the backing of her family. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
The death of a friend in 2014 was not just a stark reminder to Ms Vivian Leong Wan Yee that life is short, it also pushed her to start a new career that she had always wanted to try - nursing.
Her family had not wanted her to pursue nursing after her O levels as it was perceived back then as a "dirty job" dealing with other people's body waste and hygiene, so she worked as an engineer and then went into banking.
