Our guest speakers for the second webinar were Dr Subadhra Rai and Ms Nur Baeyah Roslin. Ms Nur Baeyah Roslin is a Certified Quit Smoking Cessation Consultant and a Registered Nurse who has had experience working in various healthcare settings. She is currently working as a Health and Wellness Coach in digital health coaching.
Dr. Subadhra Rai is a Registered Nurse and an independent consultant. Additionally, she is a Board member of the Singapore Nurses Association (SNA) and the editor of the SNA’s newsletter. Her area of expertise extends over a wide range namely, nursing, research, ethics, and development work. She expressed particular interest in the social determinants of health in the context of women’s work, income, health and refugee health.
Both of them initiated, Our Conversations: Nurses Making Connections, a nurses support group in Singapore in 2017. The informal support group is an initiative to provide a safe space for nurses to share their stories, which later led to another outstanding initiative titled, Modelling with Conscience (MwC). It aims to raise the visibility of persons of colour and others, and to serve as a route for work and income particularly for nursing students who work to support their families and selves.
During this second webinar, both Dr Subadhra Rai and Ms Nur Baeyah Roslin addressed how nurses could support one another from 3 aspects, namely: Empowerment, Self-representation and Advocacy. As the founders of Our Conversations: Nurses Making Connections and various other initiatives, they provided our audience with distinct perspectives to guide them towards a more inclusive and supportive mindset within the nursing profession. They took our audience through detailed 3 segments and kindly answered the questions raised by the audience.
The key points from this session are highlighted as follows.
Empowerment
Question: What is empowerment? How can empowerment be achieved?
Answer: “Power is central to the understanding of empowerment”. Dr Subadhra shared that “power” in this context is not limited to the power of authority, it also refers to self acknowledgement, i.e. the knowledge of self. Hence, “power”, refers to the knowledge of who a person is in terms of his or her strengths and weaknesses, and what his or her obligations are. Dr Subadhra continued to explain that with knowledge, one can gain some sense of control, and thus the ability to make a profound decision. Concurrently, to be empowered, one needs to be surrounded by people who are equally empowered.
Empowerment does not merely motivate one, but extends to those around him or her.
“Power is central to the understanding of empowerment”.
This is because people will have a mutual understanding that success is the result of shared effort. One can only succeed if other people are also successful around him or her. Dr Subadhra summarised by emphasising that mutual respect is critical and central in the behaviour of an empowered individual.
Question 2: Does being empowered mean being vocal?
Answer: Dr Subadhra shared her opinion that being vocal is only a minor aspect of empowerment, and that people have to be strategic when empowering themselves. Here are some of the key points of strategic empowerment:
Create an environment where people can share and accept opinions openly. New perspectives often create chances for greater growth.
Provide opportunities for people to develop their aspirations. This could also help to create a sense of belonging, which is crucial for a solid team spirit.
Build and promote trust with everyone
Practice authentic communication. No facade in relationships or communications should be encouraged.
Trust people to do their best but also maintain a room for potential risks.This encourages people to step out of their comfort zone and thrive for something new.
Question: How can students gain empowerment?
Answer: Dr Subadhra believed that students can gain great empowerment when they are able to better utilise the resources they possess, in this case, knowledge. They should read wide and not restrain themselves to a specific type of knowledge. Some examples of genres to explore include: political, economical, sociological, anthropological and etc. The wider people read, the more confident and articulate they will become. This in turn makes them more comfortable with sharing their ideas and makes them more open in terms of accepting different perspectives.
Dr Subadhra accentuated that students need to acknowledge their success, regardless of size. And she mentioned that it is crucial for us to not only celebrate our accomplishment, but also others’ accomplishments. And Dr Subadhra pointed out that sometimes for students, it may not be true that they lack power, but in fact, there are minimal opportunities for them to discuss their opinions about this topic.
Self-Representation
Question: How is the representation of the nurses by the public?
Answer: Ms Nur Baeyah shared that there is a general negative representation of nurses; such as, being a maid, an assistant to the doctors etc. She also mentioned how even in literature, there is some negative self-representation of nurses being highlighted. To change this negative representation of nursing, she suggested that we, as nurses, can increase visibility through professional platforms or channels.
Ms Nur Baeyah addressed how raising awareness of the public nurses achievement and scope of practice through sharing sessions or conferences, writing papers, abstracts and sharing what one has written on these abstracts and research, can also change people’s perception of nursing. She recommends nurses, even students, to speak up against the negative representation and tell the public what is right and what is wrong. However, in order to have the courage to speak up to others, she mentioned that it is important to increase one’s knowledge through extensive reading, as this allows one to express their opinions and share their own knowledge with confidence.
Question: What can we, as student nurses, do to create a positive self-representation?
Answer: Ms Nur Baeyah mentioned that the most important aspect in creating a positive self-representation is being professional and demonstrating our professionalism within the public domain. An example to demonstrate this aspect would involve being proud of yourself in our nurses uniform. Additionally, she mentioned that it is critical to ensure that there is always learning ongoing for us, as nurses, as learning is a lifelong process and it is important to keep ourselves updated as well as maintain a strong knowledge foundation. She reinforced the importance of constantly trying to expand our depth and breadth of reading and to be connected with people who are experts in their areas of work so as to have a platform for the exchange of knowledge.
Ms Nur Baeyah mentioned that another way to create a positive self-representation is the strategic use of social media platforms. This refers to not using social media platforms to rant or show grievances, which portrays a negative image of nursing. In contrast, nurses must be united and speak with one voice, with the profession and for the profession, which would greatly improve our self-representation in the public eye. Lastly, she mentioned that another way to create a positive self-representation is by creating change and championing for the vulnerable people within the population, so as to fulfil nurses' roles and obligations as compassionate caregivers.
The most important aspect in creating a positive self-representation is being professional and demonstrating our professionalism within the public domain.
Dr Subadhra agreed that all these processes take time. Nevertheless, she emphasised that us, nurses, cannot let this fact deter us but instead, act as a stimulator to get nurses to start acting on these as soon as possible. She reinforces how we cannot wait for someone else to start but rather initiate these series of changes ourselves. She highlighted that it took several years for nurses in other countries to push for change given that change is not something that happens overnight, and hence emphasised that for a change in our society, we as nurses, need to take the step to make the change as each of us nurses should have a sense of responsibility to bring about that change. Only then can we achieve the desired outcome for nursing in the future.
Advocacy
Question: Who should nurses advocate for?
Answer: Dr Subadhra proposed the need to expand the definition for “vulnerable people”. It can refer to patients who require constant and tender care from nurses. However, it can also refer to colleagues, who are at risk of being bullied by patients, family members or other co-workers.
Question: How can nurses achieve more advocacy?
Answer: Dr Subadhra believed that nurses must have an upright belief of what is the right practice and what is not. And it is vital that they possess the power to speak up when practices that are unrightful are being carried out. In Dr Subadhra’s opinion, it is also important for everyone to come together to be a greater voice when unfavourable situations occur, such as the negative depiction of nurses in the social media. Silence only proves to the public that the negative depiction is accurate of nurses and this definitely does not benefit the outlook of nursing as a profession. Meanwhile, speaking up does not necessarily mean being rude.
It is also important for everyone to come together to be a greater voice when unfavourable situations occur, such as the negative depiction of nurses in the social media.
Dr Subadhra highlighted that knowledge could help add weight to the words. Whatever one says, he or she must be accountable for it. Dr Subadhra reiterated the importance of reading widely, as it can help bring some broadened perspectives.
Questions: How can student nurses be good advocates?
Answer: Dr Subadhra proposed the following steps:
Build a solid knowledge foundation.
Find an appropriate avenue to voice out any concerns safely.
Have a group of people with similar minds. One’s view will only be valued by people who listen.
Do not ignore opposing views. They can help fill in the gap existing in the original argument.
Dr Subadhra and Ms Nur Baeyah have motivated and inspired many of us by sharing how we could create a better nursing future. With everyone coming together and speaking up for ourselves, a brighter future for nursing as a profession can hopefully be achieved. In a nutshell, Webinar 2 was another enlightening session, with our speakers sharing thought-provoking insights for both nursing students and alumni alike.
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