Her mantra: Make things safer, faster and better for patients

Ms Kala Narayanasamy's mantra in nursing is to ask herself how she can make things "safer, faster and better" for her patients.

Now the deputy director of nursing at Woodlands Health Campus, Ms Kala had retired in 2010 but soon returned to the profession she joined in 1982.

"We come from a generation where we often stay in the same job throughout the years and, as a result, we grow roots in our career," said the 59-year-old.

A year after retirement, in 2011, a former colleague asked her to lead the nursing team at Ren Ci Nursing Home. Ms Kala agreed, and while there she took part in a project to improve oral hygiene among the home's elderly patients.

In 2012, Ms Kala landed herself the role of nurse educator at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where she groomed and mentored younger nurses, hoping to shape them into future leaders in nursing.

"I always told my nurses that they must know everything about their patients during their shift, and they must be able to offer each patient... the element of human touch."

Quoting Florence Nightingale, Ms Kala often reminded those she mentored that "once the patients have no needs at all, that's when you know you've done a good job".

Aside from her role in nurturing a younger generation of nurses, Ms Kala also redefined and streamlined existing work processes to improve efficiency at hospitals, which translates to a safer and better experience for nurses and patients alike.

For instance, in order to help patients recover faster and shorten their hospital stays, Ms Kala pushed her nurses to encourage early physiotherapy, which helped instil greater confidence in the patients.

In 2017, she joined Woodlands Health Campus, where she is leveraging her four decades of experience alongside other nursing leaders to develop nursing services ahead of its opening in 2022.

Ten years after her brief retirement, each project and role at different healthcare institutions since has been a refreshing challenge, said Ms Kala.