The nurses from the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) of Ng Teng Fong Hospital work quietly behind the scenes. Despite that, the responsibility they hold is something so important that the slightest negligence could cost lives and careers.
They are responsible for sterilising surgical instruments for the entire hospital and ensuring they are safe to use.
“This is what we call the basic excision set,” said Enrolled Nurse Stephanie Marie DM, 29, as she inspected the shiny surgical instruments that had just been disinfected with chemicals and high temperature.
“We have to make sure that there are no water droplets or stains such as blood on the equipment. If the instruments are still dirty, or something is missing from the set, the operating theatre cannot use them. We need to do our job right because lives depend on them,” she added.
Stephanie has been with Jurong Health, the group the hospital is under, since 2009. Before becoming an enrolled nurse in 2013, Stephanie was a health care assistant at a normal ward.
“Working here is different from working in normal wards. There is no interaction with patients in the hospital and we’re only dealing with the instruments. Human interaction and providing personal care for the patients are the main things ward nurses do. But here, we work behind the scenes to make sure the entire hospital receives instruments that are clean and safe to use. This doesn’t make it any less important,” said Stephanie.
Stephanie added when she first came into CSSD, it took her quite a while to adapt to her new job scope.
“But with the help of my colleagues, I managed to overcome that challenge. The people here are really wonderful. I have great colleagues who really know their job well. So we tend to help each other out whenever we can,” said Stephanie.
Nursing Veteran
One of those colleagues is Senior Staff Nurse Adrianne Ong, 64, who has been in the healthcare industry for 40 years.
When it comes to working as a nurse, the thing that Adrianne likes most is the flexibility that comes in working shifts.
“My shift work allows me to spend more time with the family. My husband used to work office hours and I’ve been working shifts, so our time was actually planned that our children were never left alone at home,” said Adrianne.
Give and Take
According to CSSD’s Nurse Manager, Sister Quek Loo Lian, 66, the rosters are planned so that they do not clash with festivities celebrated by the diverse ethnic and religious groups working in the department.
“The rosters are out at least two weeks before, so the nurses have ample time to plan their activities. On public holidays, we help each other out. Those celebrating their ethnic or religious festivities will go celebrate while their colleagues to cover them. We need to give and take and to do that, we need good teamwork,” she said.
