National University Hospital is set to win more customers
With its beautiful gardens, comfortable open-air food court, several convenience stores in the basement, clean and odorless passageways, it is difficult for most Indonesians to think of it as a hospital.
But that is what Singapore's National University Hospital (NUH) wants its patients to think.
"We want to make the patients, and also their relatives feel comfortable, assured that they are in good and trustworthy hands, instead of being anxious or restless," NUH's Business Development manager Suwandi Leo said.
Right from the beginning of its operation in 1985, the hospital introduced the concept of patient-centered nursing. Based on this concept, a nurse is assigned to a small group of patients, thus enabling both sides to develop warm, personal relationships, compared to the traditional nursing concept, which dictates that a nurse is only assigned to a specific task.
NUH was officially opened on June 24, 1985 as the first government-owned restructured hospital. Currently, Singapore has around 10 restructured hospitals, five extended care hospitals, and nine private hospitals, including Mount Elizabeth and Gleneagles.
And from NUH's cozy rooms and facilities, including the specially-designed colorful playground area for very young patients, it seems the hospital is serious in its efforts to win patients' hearts.
Apart from the patient's comfort, the hospital administrators have gone a long way to make sure it has the best and latest medical equipment along with reputable specialists and professional support staff.
Currently, the 935-bed, acute-care center has around 2,600 well-trained staff, with most of whom are Singapore's top medical "brains" and specialists. Being a major health provider, the hospital also houses 20 clinics, three dental departments and much more. The hospital compound comprises 25 general wards, six intensive care units, 18 operating theaters and for prospective mothers, an assisted baby delivery theater as well as a labor ward with 10 delivery rooms.
"In recent years there has been a growing, unique trend that specialists, who used to work at private hospitals, returned to fill positions at NUH. Hopefully, their return will strengthen the hospital's ability to deal with various medical situations," Suwandi said.
Providing critical "field" medical education is another important NUH responsibility. Being the nation's only university hospital, NUH supports clinical teaching for postgraduate and undergraduate medical students.
"That was the reason why the hospital facilities were specifically designed to suit their functions both as medical and teaching facilities," the chief of NUH's Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) Department Professor Chuen Neng Lee said.
The CTVS's surgical theaters, for instance, are wired with sophisticated audio-visual recording equipment. The equipment makes it possible for medical students, who are sitting in a room dozens of meters away from the theater, to observe and to learn from the ongoing medical procedures carried out inside.
The NUH's teaching facility is not restricted to Singaporean medical students only. Under the auspices of a fellowship program, NUH provides opportunity, and in some cases financial support, for medical students from all over Asia to learn new techniques and to gain more experience.
"Six months of working with the best specialists here, and learning the best and the most efficient ways of treating the patients were truly the most defining experiences in my professional life," a fellowship student, Dr Bambang Budiono of Indonesia's Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital said.
Currently, the CTVS department alone is hosting seven fellowship students from China, India and Pakistan.
"And soon we will receive 17 people, the whole cardiac department of a Mongolian hospital, that will be trained here for two years under a World Bank-sponsored program," Lee said.
In its effort to provide the best possible treatment for its patients, the NUH also allocated a significant amount of its resources to various medical research projects.
Research in various fields of the medical world's "future frontier", such as bone marrow and stem cells, artificial hearts, molecular genotyping and chemotherapy, are passionately pursued in this hospital, in hopes that it would eventually put the hospital on the cutting edge in its battle against various diseases.
The NUH Endowment Fund which is responsible for raising funds from concerned individuals and institutions, played a very important role in the financial sustainability of the NUH, particularly in its education and research arms.
The Fund also helps many patients, who may be in a situation where they badly need certain medical treatment or procedure but do not have enough money.
"Currently, most of the international patients from Indonesia understand very little of NUH, but I believe that that will change soon." Budiono said. -- I Wayan Juniartha