HKU_Newsletter_Issue 39_0828

Clinical Excellence Q1. I understand you were a psychiatric nurse before working in nursing management and administration. Would you please briefly tell me something about your background and experience in nursing? I started my career as a Registered Nurse in Castle Peak Hospital, Kwai Chung Hospital and Lai Chi Kok Hospital in the 1980’s. I then joined the Executive Partner Programme (formerly known as the Understudy Programme) in 1994-5. It was a one year programme held by the Hospital Authority Head Office which I found very useful after my 10-year experience working in psychiatric hospitals. Following this programme, I joined the Psychiatry Department at the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital (Hong Kong East Cluster) as Nursing Officer and was then promoted to Ward Manager. I served there for the next 9 years. In 2004, I left the Department and worked in the Central Nursing Division of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital as Senior Nursing Officer (SNO), an administrative position managing the manpower and training of nurses. During the post-SARS period, hospitals had a nursing manpower problem. There were only 300-400 graduates from UGC-funded courses each year and the situation became worse with the closure of nursing schools and early retirement. I was promoted to Cluster General Manager (Nursing) (CGMN) of the Hong Kong East Cluster in 2014; and became Chief Manager (Nursing) of the Hospital Authority Head Office on March 1, 2017. I recalled many unforgettable working experiences in my early days as a nurse and I will share one with you now. This was when I was working in Kwai Chung Hospital which had a sick ward for hospitalised psychiatric patients who became physically ill. The nature of the position differed from my expectation, as it was more like a general ward with patients requiring nasogastric feeding or rehabilitation after bone fractures. However, at the same time they were suffering from psychiatric diseases which also required treatment. I found the experience very good as it provided me with the opportunity to practice general nursing again and also to draw upon my skills in psychiatric nursing. Additionally, I had the opportunity to contribute in the daily ward management. I was able to improve the medication distribution procedure by encouraging colleagues to bring the medications to the patients instead of asking patients to come forward to take their medication in front of the nurse which was a common procedure for psychiatric patients. The experience in Kwai Chung Hospital set an example to me to think out of the box, yet it is also equally important to listen to others’ opinion. Current challenges and the way ahead - An Interview with Mr. Lawrence Poon, Chief Manager (Nursing), Hospital Authority Q2. Although you have been working on nursing management and leadership for a while, do you see any differences in your current position? No matter whether you are working in the frontline as a psychiatric nurse or as SNO in the Central Nursing Division (CND), the job is about dealing with people. In the psychiatric ward, it was the patients’ mind to be taken care of; whereas, in CND, one has to be a good listener, to understand the needs of colleagues and other stakeholders, to communicate and to show empathy when handling complaints. As Chief Manager (Nursing), I can put forward more changes and new ideas. However, a concerted effort is required to mobilize colleagues from different levels to implement those changes and ideas. It can be difficult and challenging but nothing compares with the satisfaction of making changes and improving outcomes. It is a very good experience to learn from talented people in HAHO across clusters and other stakeholders. Q3. What do you see as the strengths of nursing and its limitations in Hong Kong? For the strengths, withmore nursing students having graduated from tertiary institutions over the last 5 – 6 years, there are more nurses joining the workforce. They are young, more energetic, more creative, more willing to try and change. In providing health care it takes time to accumulate clinical experience, and the limitation of a workforce with younger nurses is what is now happening – lack of clinical experience. It is of utmost importance for experienced nurses to pass along their knowledge to the younger generation. Q4. What do you think about the major challenges ahead for nursing in Hong Kong? I am of the view that we need to have a more structural or systematic way to pass along knowledge. This could be done by each hospital/cluster or across clusters in a more efficient way in order to shorten the transitional period. I think there needs to be more clinical collaboration between universities and hospitals and we should promote this. Lecturers from Universities can arrange scheduled visits to designated clinical units to establish a long-term relationship with clinical staff; at the same time some nurse specialists can give lectures at the universities. This kind of two-way involvement can enhance communication among academician and clinical staff and develop more research collaboration. A regular visit to the clinical areas can also assist Lecturers to develop more down- to-earth research and create more ideas for improving clinical practice. Just like the theme of the 7th Hong Kong International Nursing Forum proposed research and clinical teaching can work “Hand in Hand Creating Tomorrow”. 4 Vision to L ead Mission to Serve Mr. Lawrence Poon Chief Manager (Nursing) Hospital Authority