Newsletter No. 495

08 # 4 9 5 | 0 4 . 0 4 . 2 0 1 7 nursing programmes thereby increasing the numbers of graduates. Our challenge lies in nurturing more nurses with the highest standard. Furthermore, the private health sector has sought to lure nursing teachers with more attractive offers. We have to adopt different strategies to retain our staff and support their teaching and research work. Is it difficult to recruit nurses or attract young people to join the profession? It’s no easy job. The public hospitals lost 780 nurses last year and the turnover rate reached 5.2%. With more than 700 nurses retiring in the coming three years and the opening of new public and private hospitals, the shortage will become more acute. Fortunately, there are a lot of enthusiastic and capable young people who would like to work in the healthcare sector. Our students are very committed. Their employment rate is 100% and over 80% of them work in public hospitals. Can you think of ways to ease the shortage? The problem can only be dealt with through a long- term and comprehensive healthcare manpower policy by the government. In the meantime, we’ve proposed to the government to allocate ad hoc funding for five years to increase 50 degree places each year, i.e., a total of 250 nursing graduates in the next five years. What advice do you have for graduating students? Maintain work-life balance and do more exercise. Finding meaning in your career helps to sustain your passion. Be a team player and work closely with your team members. Equip yourselves by continuing to acquire new knowledge to meet new challenges. When the going gets tough, seek support from Hospital Authority counsellors or the School’s teachers. Our door is always open. Please tell us briefly the history of The Nethersole School of Nursing. Established in 1991, CUHK’s Department of Nursing is the first university nursing programme in Hong Kong. In appreciation of the generous support of the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Charity Foundation, the department was formally renamed The Nethersole School of Nursing in 2002 and has continued to uphold the motto ‘to serve the community with compassion’ of the original Nethersole School of Nursing—the first nursing school in Hong Kong set up in 1893 under the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital. The School is ranked first in Hong Kong, third in Asia and 27th in the world. What distinguishes the School from others? The School strives to offer quality undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education in line with CUHK’s mission of whole-person development. Over the years, the School has established its reputation and been widely recognized locally and internationally, thanks to the joint efforts of our dedicated teachers and staff who share the same goal. The teacher-student relationships are close. Students’ opinions and needs are addressed promptly. Our programme is the most popular one among the three publicly-funded bachelor programmes in nursing. Each year, we receive over 6,000 applications for about 200 places. Our programme has remained the largest one with the highest average admission GPA. Our graduates are given top priorities by hospitals. What areas do you want to do even better? Currently, we have about 1,200 undergraduate and 600 postgraduate students. It’s very important to improve the effectiveness of big class teaching by means of technology, e.g., Clickers, UReply [classroom response systems]. On the other hand, small tutorial classes of about 20 students enable thorough and in-depth discussions. Though a lot of our research is closely related to local community, including residential care for stroke patients after discharge from hospitals and care for people with dementia, we are also aiming at large-scale collaborative multidisciplinary and inter- institutional research. We have yet to acquire more experience in using big data to inform cross-countries and cross-cultural nursing research. What challenges do you see the School facing in the near future? The standard of nursing practice is getting higher due to manpower shortage and nurses are increasingly tasked with a wider range of healthcare responsibilities. But the publicly-funded nursing first degree places haven’t been increased. On the other hand, self-funded institutions and hospitals have launched degree, professional/higher diploma level 請簡述那打素護理學院當年成立的背景。 中大護理學系於1991年成立，是本港首個大學護理學系；其後為感謝雅 麗氏何妙齡那打素慈善基金會的慷慨支持，由2002年起正式命名為那打 素護理學院，並秉承原那打素護士學校—由那打素醫院於1893年創辦 的全港首間護士學校—「矜憫為懷，役於社會」的精神，致力為香港培 育優秀護理人才。 中大護理學院今年的世界大學護理學科排名居香港首位、亞洲第三位 及全球第二十七位，有甚麼過人之處？ 學院一直致力提供優質護理本科及研究院課程，並配合中大全人教育的 理念，着重學生的全人發展。多年來，學院已建立了口碑，成果獲高度肯 定。有此佳績，全靠全體同事上下一心，合作無間。我們的教學團隊滿懷 熱忱，與學生關係密切，積極聆聽學生的意見及了解其需要。在本地三所 提供資助護理學士課程的院校中，中大是最受歡迎的，每年名額約二百 個，卻有逾六千人申請。以學生人數和收生成績來說，也是最佳的。我們 的畢業生獲不少醫院和業界優先聘用。 如果學院想精益求精，你希望是在哪些方面？ 學院有接近一千二百名本科生及六百多名研究生，所以提升大班教 學的成效非常重要。我們採用多項科技輔助教學，如即時回應系統 Clickers、UReply等，讓教師能夠及時掌握學生對授課內容的理解程 度，即時回應；並安排約二十人一組的導修課，讓學生就不同課題深入討 論和提問。 在科研方面，學院有很多研究項目如中風病人出院後的家居照料、腦退 化症護理等，都是緊貼香港社會的需要。我們希望能與更多海外院校及 學者攜手，開展大型國際合作護理研究項目，並建立及使用大數據，進 一步推動跨學科、跨文化的護理研究。 學院當前面對甚麼挑戰？ 鑑於護士人手短缺及護士要承擔更多責任，對護士要求亦更高。然而，資 助院校的護理學士學額多年來沒有增加，反而由自資院校和醫院開辦的 各項護理學士和專業／高級文憑課程的畢業生人數，近年卻大幅增加。 因此，我們要推動政府增加資助護理學士學額，以培育更多高質素護士， 並提升畢業生的臨床水平、護士團隊的士氣和整體質素。此外，面對私 立護理教育機構以高薪挖角，學院會採取各種策略，積極挽留人才及支 持教師的教學發展和研究工作。 香港招聘護士容易嗎？可容易吸引年輕人入行？ 香港招聘護士的確不易。以公立醫院為例，去年欠缺七百八十名護士，護 士流失率高達5.2%，未來三年將有七百多名護士退休，加上多間公私立 醫院相繼啟用，預料人手會更加緊張。幸而現時有很多有熱誠、有能力的 年輕人希望入行。就以我們的學生為例，他們對護理工作很有使命感，畢 業後就業率達百分之百，當中八成以上加入公立醫院，為市民服務。 有甚麼辦法紓緩護士人手不足？ 長遠而言，還是有賴政府完善的醫護人力規劃。我們已向政府要求特別 撥款，希望每年增加五十個學額，五年便可增加二百五十名護理畢業生， 以應燃眉之急。 對即將畢業同學有甚麼叮嚀？ 寄語畢業生要注重工作和生活的平衡，公餘不妨多做運動，這有助紓緩 壓力。要不時反思投身護理專業的初衷，堅定自己的信念。作為工作團隊 的一員，要與同事緊密合作，發揮團隊合作的精神。持續進修，裝備自己 應付新挑戰。遇到挫折時，可向醫院管理局的輔導員尋求協助，或是回校 找老師傾談，學院的大門是長開的。 車錫英教授 Prof. Chair Sek-ying 那打素護理學院院長 Director, The Nethersole School of Nursing Photo by ISO Staff 口 談 實 錄 / V iva V oce