NITRO has
6 Focus Areas:
- Clinical Practice
- Clinical Informatics / Artificial Intelligence (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 Practice
Aim: To break new ground on nursing care delivered to patients and their loved ones
Relevant projects & manuscripts:
Informatics / Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Aim: To generate insights using data science with expert nursing knowledge to provide informed guidance for policy and care.
Relevant projects & manuscripts:
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 & manuscripts:
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 & manuscripts:
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 Consultations: 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, as part of the Ministry of Health (MOH)'s Health Manpower Development Plan (HMDP) - Visiting Experts, 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 implementation science and knowledge translation.
NITRO team with Prof. Tracey Bucknall & guest speakers, 2023
Closed Room Dialogue & Workshop Group Discussion with Prof. Tracey Bucknall, 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.
2025
- National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Research Training Fellowship - George Glass
- NHG Health-Lee Kong Chian Medicine Clinician-Scientist Fellowship - George Glass
2024
- President's Award for Nurses - Dr Chan Ee Yuee
- Singapore Nursing Award (Bronze), Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC)
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
Our work has received coverage in local media:
September 2025, The Straits Times
Read the article: TTSH introduces new portal to help guide caregivers | The Straits Times
September 2025, LIANHE ZAOBAO

Read the article: 陈笃生医院为看护者推新手机应用功能 更好照顾病患 | 联合早报 (zaobao.com.sg)
September 2025, Channel 8 News
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Watch the Full Video: 陈笃生医院为看护者推新手机应用功能 更好照顾病患 | 联合早报 (zaobao.com.sg)
September 2025, Shin Min Daily News
Read the article:
Read the article: 五白衣天使获颁总统护士奖 本地护理界最高荣誉 | 联合早报 (zaobao.com.sg)
July 2024, MOH News Highlights
Read the article: President's Award for Nurses 2024
February 2023, BrightSparks E-Magazine
Read the article: MOHH Scholarship - Creating Impact Through Nursing Research | BrightSparks February 2023 e-Magazine
19 Dec 2022, Facebook mention by Minister Masagos Zulkifli
17 Aug 2022, Berita Harian
Read the Article: Sandang dua peranan jururawat klinisian-saintis (Juggling Two Roles As a Nurse and Clinician-Scientist)
27 Feb 2022, Channel NewsAsia
Read the Article: Commentary: Caregiver collapse is real and hospitals can smoothen thetransition home
4 Jul 2019, Channel NewsAsia
Watch the Full Video: TTSH's pilot programme to introduce framework for bettercaregiving management
4 Jul 2019, The Straits Times
Read the Article: More help for caregivers to cope emotionally with roll-out of new TTSH programme