S’porean nurse to be lauded for work on women, refugees
Dr Subadhra Devi Rai said there was no real "aha" moment that led her to teaching. Photo: Robin Choo/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Her work as a volunteer took her all over the world. In Nigeria and Laos, she worked with organisations to stop the transmission of polio. In Thailand, she helped develop health workshops at a non-profit to help empower women through education and other efforts.
But in 2010, Dr Subadhra Devi Rai, 51, decided to return to Singapore with a new focus: To educate the next generation of nurses. Herself a graduate of nursing school in 1988 in Singapore, Dr Rai has been teaching at Nanyang Polytechnic’s (NYP) School of Health Sciences (Nursing) since 2011.
There was no real “aha” moment that led her to teaching, said Dr Rai. “As nurses, teaching is part of what we do, even when we do the day-to-day clinical care. So it is an integral part of our practice,” she said.
In June, Dr Rai will become the first Singaporean nurse to receive the International Achievement Award from the International Council of Nurses’ Florence Nightingale International Foundation, in recognition of her work on the health of women and refugees.
The award is given to those with at least 10 years of nursing experience in one of the four domains of nursing: Direct care, education, management or research. Dr Rai will be presented with the biennial award on June 21 in Seoul.
Speaking to the media today (April 1), Dr Rai said: “I am honoured and humbled to receive this recognition. It gives me tremendous joy and encouragement to be part of such a rewarding experience.”
Dr Rai’s career began in Singapore, where she worked in an intensive care unit following her general nursing training. She then worked at the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) on support for survivors of sexual assault, before moving to Canada to further her studies.
In 2003, she received her PhD in population health from the University of Alberta. In the years that followed, she travelled to different countries to volunteer and conduct research.
With the knowledge and skills acquired from her volunteer work, she is now seeking to teach her nursing students to look at the profession with a broader perspective.
“Most of the time, the students look at the disease when dealing with patients, but not the whole picture, such as the patients’ financial situation,” Dr Rai said. “What if the patients don’t have enough money to afford the medication? Do you still recommend the medication to them?”
She also added that it is important to train her students to be accountable for their actions, understand that they have a responsibility towards the patients and their family, and be professional at all times, even if they are only student nurses.
Outside of NYP, Dr Rai is the chief editor of the Singapore Nurses Association’s newsletter.
Commenting on the shortage of nurses in Singapore, Dr Rai noted the low awareness of what the nursing profession entails.
“Right now, the only thing we can do is try to catch up to the number of nurses that we should have and try to make nursing an attractive profession for Singaporeans.”
