SINGAPORE – To prepare nurses for leadership roles in tackling the complex healthcare challenges of a fast ageing nation, the National University of Singapore (NUS) has launched Singapore’s first doctorate in nursing practice.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a two-year part-time programme that empowers nurses to lead system-wide improvements, influence health policy, and enhance care delivery while continuing their clinical work, said Mr Ong Ye Kung, the Minister for Health and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, at the launch of the programme on Aug 1.

It comes as healthcare needs evolve, and it is crucial to attract and retain nurses for the growing demands in Singapore amid a global nursing shortage.

“The requirements of nurses are still changing and (they are) changing even more rapidly because we have an ageing population, which is giving rise to a different patient mix,” said Mr Ong.

“Patients get older, they increasingly require less episodic care, but more coordinated and consolidated care to better manage multiple and complex conditions.” 

NUS also introduced three new master’s programmes designed for working nurses to enhance their expertise in community health, critical care and infection control.

The new programmes are offered by the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at NUS (NUS Nursing), which held its 20th anniversary celebration in conjunction with Nurses’ Day on Aug 1.

Professor Liaw Sok Ying, head of NUS Nursing, said the new programmes are also a means to attract and retain nurses and elevate the profession in Singapore.

Increasingly, nurses are taking on leadership roles, not only in management but also in specialised clinical areas that address the needs of Singapore’s healthcare system, she added.

The doctorate programme’s first cohort of 16 students comprise an American nurse of Filipino ethnicity and 15 nurses working in Singapore in community and ...