Brief Profile of
“The 44thFlorence Nightingale Medal”Awardee
Dr Susie Lum Shun-sui
Being a nurse for 43 years, Dr Susie Lum Shun-sui has devoted herself in educating, caring, nurturing, and developing professional nursing in Hong Kong.
Graduated in 1969, she had been highly regarded for her enthusiasm in discharging her nursing duties. In 1981, she became the nursing school principal and introduced community-based education to provide home-care nursing in the poor households. The provision of holistic care to patients and the family has been ingrained in nursing education.
Becoming the first Chief Nurse Executive of the Hospital Authority (HA) in 1994, she took charge of the overall strategic planning and policy development in nursing practice, education and service management. She also introduced case-management approach and psychiatric community nursing programme, which consolidated the policy of caring for the vulnerable groups.
In 2003, the SARS pandemic presented an unprecedented challenge to Hong Kong. Dr Lum pioneered the setting up of the centralcontrol team in the HA, coordinated nursing manpower to meet the demand for isolation wards and intensive care units, visited infected frontline colleagues, and conducted specialized training for nurses.
From 2007, Dr Lum led in providing specialty nursing training and professional exchanges in Hong Kong for nurses from Mainland China. Within four years, 614experienced Guangdong nurses in 10 nursing specialties had completed the 10-month specialty training in Hong Kong. They are now initiating and providing specialty nursing services in over 100 hospitals in the Guangdong province.
Dr Lum retired from the HA in May 2008.
For decades, Dr Lum has championed the development of specialty nursing and advanced nursing practices. Under her leadership, in October 2011, the Provisional Hong Kong Academy of Nursing was established. To date, the Academy and its 14 Academy Specialty Colleges have a total of 14 Honorary Fellows and2,249 fellow members. The Academy marks the milestone for Hong Kong’s nursing profession advancement and has profound impact on the nursing development of China.
Dr Lum has participated in various community tasks with great enthusiasm. The current ones include:-
President, The Provisional Hong Kong Academy of Nursing
Council Member, Tung Wah College
Director, Regeneration Society
Adjunct Professor of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Honorary Associate Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong,
Advisor, School of Continuing & Professional Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Senior Advisor, Guangdong Nursing Education Centre
Advisor, Patients’ Rights Advocates
Member, Long Term Care Subcommittee, Elderly Commission of Hong Kong
Member, Steering Committee on Review of the Regulation of Private Healthcare Facilities
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