NITRO has 6 Focus Areas:
- Clinical
- Clinical Informatics / AI
- Nursing Management / Leadership
- Education
- Innovation / Value-based Care
- Programme Evaluation
Some past projects relevant to these 6 areas, that our team embarked on, are linked below.
Clinical
Aim: To break new ground on nursing care delivered to patients and their loved ones
Relevant projects:
Informatics / AI
Aim: Using data science to generate insights with expert nursing knowledge to provide informed guidance for policy and care.
Relevant projects:
Nursing Management / Leadership
Aim: To unlock new knowledge in management sciences to meet the needs of an evolving nursing profession and a multi-generational workforce
Relevant projects:
Education
Aim: To critically examine and develop new pedagogies and tools to better equip and meet the needs of learners affected by nurses
Relevant projects:
Innovation / Value-based Care
Aim: To examine the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of new tools and care transformations before their scale-up into general clinical practice
Relevant projects:
Programme Evaluation
Aim: To provide a holistic, global evaluation of nurse-led initiatives, to examine their effectiveness and impact on staff, patient, caregiver and community outcomes
Relevant projects:
The Incubator
Here at NITRO, we allow Nurses to pursue curiosity to improve clinical practice. Through this, we hope to build up the next generation of Nurse Scientists.
The Accelerator: Ground Engagement
We aim to amplify NITRO’s visibility as a leading platform for Nurses seeking to engage in research, evidence-based practice and inquiry, providing them with valuable resources and support to enhance their work.
We currently do so through several fronts:
1. Curious Cat initiative
Our Hybrid Nurse Clinician-Scientists have partnered with us to launch the Curious Cat, a multi-pronged initiative that aims to spark curiosity and promote a culture of inquiry among TTSH nurses.
Curious Cat activities include:
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Curious Cat Café: a platform that provides Nurses assistance and support with their research/ EBP projects
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‘Have You Ever Thought’: a series of posters that reinforce the importance of evidence-based nursing practices
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Curious Cat Digest: a series of posters with best evidence regarding a practice
2. NITRO Newsletter Series
Together with some of our Hybrid Nurse Clinician-Scientists, we developed an ongoing newsletter series titled “The NITRO Tale”, that aims to equip all Nurses with bite-sized research tips & knowledge regarding evidence-based practices.
The Connector
We use a hub-and-spoke approach to connect nurses, clinicians, research and technology partners with one another. That way, we can better develop solutions to meet tomorrow’s issues together.
In 2022, NITRO welcomed Nurse Researchers from the University of Oulu, Finland. There was a productive sharing of the approaches and strategies used to improve nursing science, enhancing patient capacity for self-care and nursing skillsets to manage an ageing population.
Hosting a group of Nurse Researchers from the University of Oulu, Finland
In 2023, NITRO hosted Prof. Tracey Bucknall from Alfred Health and Deakin University, Australia. She held a series of lectures and workshops for Nurses from various institutions, sharing her expertise on implementational science and knowledge translation.
NITRO team with Prof. Tracey Bucknall & guest speakers during HMDP VE 2023
Closed Room Dialogue & Workshop Group Discussion during HMDP VE 2023
We look forward to more connections and collaborations with partners around the world to bring forward Better Health.
The Explorer-Scientists
Putting all these elements together, we aim to build up generations of nurse scientists who are passionate and driven about discovering new insights to help improve nursing care.
At NITRO, we aim to ensure that all our knowledge generated through research is brought back to the bedside to improve care for our staff, patients and the wider community.
Some success stories of translation are as shared below:
“Red No More” – Development of an incontinence-associated dermatitis care bundle
Incontinence-associated dermatitis is a complex health problem prevalent in healthcare and long-term care solutions. It can cause excruciating pain and itching to afflicted patients, and undue distress to their family members and caregivers.
Partnering with wound nurse clinician experts, NITRO found that the addition of skin cleanser agents to the standard skin care of incontinent patients led to a 50% increased likelihood of skin healing within 7 days (Glass et al. 2021).
Below is a poster summarizing some of the team’s findings:
Based on these findings, NITRO developed an evidence-based incontinence associated dermatitis bundle, one of the first in an acute hospital in Singapore. Within a year from the clinical trial, this bundle is now considered part of standard care across Tan Tock Seng Hospital, reducing the risk of our patients suffering from such pain and discomfort.
“I See, I Learn, I Do” – Establishing video-accelerated caregiver skills training for nasogastric tube feeding
Long-term nasogastric tube feeding is a common enteral feeding solution for patients who are unable to swallow adequately in Singapore, requiring caregivers to become competent in the skills of nasogastric tube feeding and overall tube management before the patient can be discharged back home.
Working together with the Nursing Education Department in TTSH, NITRO established a training primer protocol, with caregivers having to watch a video that summarizes the process and rationale of nasogastric tube feeding before approaching the bedside for practical training and competency assessment.
Through this, caregivers reported a 40% increase in the median number of correct steps, and a 30% reduction in the 75th percentile of number of training sessions to become competent in nasogastric tube feeding. This reflects how the programme has contributed towards caregivers becoming competent faster and performing better during their hands-on practice, potentially saving an additional day in hospital for training, which costs nearly SGD 2,000 per patient (Kwok et al. 2023).
Based on these findings, the video primer protocol now constitutes a standard part of the caregiver training syllabus for caregivers learning nasogastric tube feeding for the very first time.
2023
- Singapore Nursing Award (Gold), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
- SHBC Best Poster Award (Nursing), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
2022
- Singapore Nursing Award (Gold), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
- Singapore Nursing Award (Silver), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
SHBC 2022 Singapore Nursing Award (Gold)
2021
- Best Poster Award (Nursing Research) (Gold), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
- Best Poster Award (Nursing Research) (Silver), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
2020
- Impactful Collaboration Award, Tan Tock Seng Hospital Research Award
2019
- Nominee for National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award, National Medical Excellence Award
- Nursing Research Medal, National University of Singapore
- Singapore Nursing Award (Gold), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
- Best Poster Award (Nursing Research) (Gold), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
2018
- Singapore Nursing Award (Gold), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
- Health Professions Education Research Investigator Award (Gold), Singapore
- Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
- Health Professions Education Research Investigator Award (Bronze), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
- Nursing Research Medal, National University of Singapore
NITRO has led projects which have been awarded funding from various intramural and extramural funding sources.
Some of these grants include:
- National Innovation Challenge - Caregiving Ecosystem (CareEco) - 2022
Awarding Agency: Ministry of Health (MOH)
Name of Project: Project Carer Matters 2 - Geriatric Education & Research Institute (GERI) Intramural Grant - 2020
Awarding Agency: Geriatric Education and Research Institute
Name of Project: Feasibility of Screen, Holistic Assessment, Reach, and Engagement (SHARE) Programme for Family Caregivers of People with Dementia receiving home-based caregiving - Ng Teng Fong Healthcare Innovation Program (Track 3 - Community Enabling) - 2019
Awarding Agency: TTSH Community Fund, Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Name of Project: Project Carers Matter: Identification and Intervention of At-risk Family Caregivers of Dependent Older Adults - Ng Teng Fong Healthcare Innovation Program (Innovation Track - Cat 1 Innovation) - 2018
Awarding Agency: TTSH Community Fund, Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Name of Project: Care Redesign for Caregivers-Patients with Dementia: Project CHAT-MI: Caregiver mastery-burden Hybrid Assessment Tool - Matrix of Interventions - Skin Innovation Grant - 2018
Awarding Agency: Skin Research Institute of Singapore
Name of Project: A nursing care redesign using an integrated, evidence-based Incontinence associated dermatitis (IAD) program for healthcare institutions in Singapore
The Nursing Research Fund (NRF) was set up to support TTSH nurses in their research or evidence-based practice (EBP) projects, which are important and aligned with the hospital's priorities.
If you would like to make a donation to the NRF to support the advancement of nursing research/ innovation/ EBP projects in TTSH, please
email us.
Note: All monetary donations will enjoy 2.5 times tax-exemption (applicable to Singapore tax-payers only).