me+sh (sep-nov 2010)
DESCRIPTION
We put the reading glasses on Education in SingHealth in this issue!TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER — NOVEMBER 2010
Transforming the Face of Education
An EPIC in the Making
BUILDING ON OUR FOUNDATION, INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE
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A SingHealth Staff Publication
IN THIS ISSUE
Charging Forward in Our Academic Medicine journeyGCEO Prof Tan Ser Kiat's annual staff address
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MICA(P) 094/04/2010
SingHealth Editorial Team
Tan-Huang Shuo Mei
Amelia Champion
Katheryn Maung
Arthur Wong
Stephanie Jade Arlindita
Pepper Global
Alvin Ee
Ariel Chew
Michael Koek
Candice Tang
75B Pagoda Street
Singapore 059234
Tel: +65 6221 1286
Photography for education
and home features: A Pixels
Photography Pte Ltd
Copywriters: Monica Lim
and Sher Maine Wong
Slme + Spotlight
25
01 Guest Editor - Dr Edwin Low
02 Pulse of SingHealth 2010
Building on our foundation,
investing in our future
06 An EPIC in the making
08 IMU to advance clinical research
10 Dispensers of knowledge
12 Inspirational patient - Father
knows best
13 Heart transplant lynchpin
14 Eye on education
Grme + Group
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25 iTag innovations
26 Nurses’ day: a
celebration by
the numbers
26 Nursing greatness
27 Highest honour for
our nurses
28 At home with Dr Patrick Casey
31 Wise up on sugars and starch
– The GI factor
32 Battling cancer with nutrition
33 Healthcare
fi nancing
34 More than just fl ying kicks
and punches
Smme + Smiles
34
CONTENTS
Lvme + Living
28
f
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16 Transforming the face of education
19 Teaching life’s valuable lessons
20 Enabling nurses to go the distance
21 Giving doctors a specialist edge
22 Stirring the passion of junior doctors
23 Cultivating Dr Leaders
24 Pioneering Duke-NUS culture
SPECIAL:EDUCATE TO EMPOWER
SpSpecial
16
36 me+SH contest
Hrme + Horizon
36
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, as the
saying goes.
With the many new initiatives in recent years and many more new ones
to follow in the next few, we are indeed in exciting times in our Academic
Medicine journey. The establishment of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical
School brings back medical education to our SGH campus. The opening of
the SingHealth Investigational Medicine Unit and the construction of the SGH
Pathology Building supports our goal of building a vibrant culture of academia
and scientifi c curiosity that we can call our own.
In Pulse of SingHealth, the annual staff address, GCEO Prof Tan Ser Kiat gave
us CHARGE! as our direction in the decade ahead. Always keeping in mind
that patients are at the heart of all we do, we realise that all these efforts aim
at one outcome: synergy in research and education to improve patient care.
Everyone has a role to play in making this journey possible. To facilitate
that, new career tracks are implemented to expand and enhance the roles
of Clinicians, Nursing Staff, and Allied Health Professionals.
We know that our strength comes from our people, and we recognise
and reward them for excellence. To build capacity and capability of our
people and ensure we each have the right knowledge and skills to excel
in each of our roles, SingHealth has in place numerous educational and
training programmes for all groups of staff and will continue to expand our
educational armamentarium for the many opportunities ahead.
I believe that we should always keep learning and we are never too old to learn
– whilst I was doing my Masters in Public Health at the age of 41, I had many
fellow students who were in their fi fties to encourage me. Be inspired in your
own learning journey by this issue’s special feature on our Education mission.
So join us on this exciting journey and see how YOU can contribute to our
direction forward in the journey of Academic Medicine.
Starting on Our Journey Forward
Guest Editor
DR EDWIN LOW Group Director, Strategic HR, SingHealth
Group Director, Offi ce of Academic Medicine,
SingHealth
GCEO Prof Tan Ser Kiat delivered the annual staff address, Pulse of SingHealth,
on 13 October 2010 at the MOH Auditorium. In the address, Prof Tan brought us
back to the early days of SingHealth’s journey and shared more about plans in
Academic Medicine.
WHAT is Academic Medicine?In simple terms, Academic Medicine refers to medicine practised in academically oriented hospitals,
where research is pursued not as an end in its own right but to enable better patient care and teaching.
WHY Academic Medicine?Our Pursuit of Academic Medicine is to Improve Patient Care and aims to achieve:
➥ Continuous improvement in clinical outcomes
➥ Uplifting of healthcare standards and quality
➥ Improvement in general health and well-being of the population
Typically, Academic Medical Centres consist of medical schools and their closely affi liated or owned
clinical facilities and professional schools. There are approximately 125 such complexes in the US.
SingHealth’s partnership with Duke-NUS forms the catalyst for our growth into Academic Medicine.
s SingHealth celebrates our 10th
anniversary, it’s time to take stock
of our decade of achievements.
Most would agree we’ve come
very far. In just ten years, we have
established new standards of care.
All the hospitals in the SingHealth
cluster are JCI-accredited and we
have etched numerous fi rsts in the
medical annals, such as Asia’s fi rst
heart and liver double transplant
and the fi rst stem cell transplant
following the introduction of the
Singapore Cord Blood Bank – the only
public cord blood bank in Asia.
In research, we have clinched many
international awards and embarked on
many clinical trials that have benefi tted
patients. On the education front, we
have continued our strong teaching
legacy, a role which has been amplifi ed
with our partnership with Duke-NUS.
Across the cluster, our current staff
number stands at 20,000 strong, double
what we had ten years ago, all sharing
the single-minded commitment to
serving our patients better.
As we celebrate our coming of
age, we also mark the start of
our journey towards becoming a
leader in Academic Medicine with
a strategic partnership with the
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical
School. In a way, it’s fi tting that
we commemorate the event by
renewing our commitment to our
mission and vision, which have
been repackaged for greater impact.
PULSE OF SINGHEALTH 2010
SingHealth GCEO Prof Tan Ser Kiat
BUILDING ON OUR FOUNDATION, INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE
2010PULSE OFSINGHEALTH
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CAPABILITY & CAPACITY BUILDING New Leadership Development Framework Becoming an employer of choice Filling manpower gaps
HOLISTIC & INTEGRATED CARE Appropriate siting of care Support Age Friendly Care programmes 1 Patient, 1 Record Integration of Care Services Establishment of SingHealth Comprehensive Transplant Centre
ACADEMIC CLINICAL DIVISIONS Academic pursuits and clinical success are synergistic and interdependent Roll out over 9 – 12 months Faculty appointments at Duke-NUS Recognition & reward for performance in all areas Bring out synergies across our triple mission for best outcomes for patients
RESIDENCY & EDUCATION INITIATIVES Build on our strong teaching legacy Attract best young talents and retain top minds in Medicine Faculty development to build competency Success in the ACGME-I accreditation on 26-29 October 2010
GROW & DEEPEN RESEARCH Grow careers of researchers and increase share of research grants Partnering Duke-NUS from basic research to translational medicine and clinical trials Strengthen industry collaborations Create a vibrant culture of academia and scientifi c curiosity
EXCELLENCE IN ALL WE DO Everyone a Quality Champion and driving quality improvements through the EPIC programme Achieve International Benchmarks and JCI Accreditation Reward excellence through awards – launch of the Singapore Health Quality Service Award (Jan 2011) and the SingHealth Excellence Awards (Mar 2011)
COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT➥ 360 degree feedback on employee
leadership behaviour
DEVELOP TALENT POOL➥ Common learning roadmap for supervisors
to better plan training for staff
LEARNING ROADMAP➥ Organisational Leadership Programme (OLP)
for senior management
➥ Performing Leadership Programme (PLP)
for new and upcoming HODs
➥ Emerging Leadership Programme (ELP) for
emerging leaders
Aptly describing SingHealth’s approach towards the next ten years, the acronym crystalises
our direction forward.
PULSE OF SINGHEALTH 2010
OUR MISSION IN SIX STRATEGIC THRUSTS
SERVICE
Capability & Capacity Building
CHolistic & Integrated Care
HEDUCATION
Academic Clinical Divisions
AResidency & EducationInitiatives
RRESEARCH
Grow & Deepen Research
GExcellence in All We Do
E
CHARGE! FORWARD INTO A NEW DECADE OF GROWTH
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK A Leadership Development Framework will be put in place, linking leadership training and
leadership competency gaps. A systematic approach will ensure that we have the right people in
the right job at the right time.
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PULSE OF SINGHEALTH 2010
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Senior Staff Nurses & Staff Nurses
Director of Nursing
Asst Director(Mgt)
Asst Director(Edu)
Advanced Practice Nurse*
Senior Nurse Educator
Nurse Educator
Senior Nurse Manager
Nurse Manager
Senior Nurse Clinician
Nurse Clinician/APN
ClinicalManagement Education
* Masters in Nursing (Clinical)
EVERYONE HAS A ROLE IN ACADEMIC MEDICINE
The SingHealth & Duke-NUS
partnership brings new synergies
to academic pursuits and clinical
success. Joint appointments
enable a cross-fertilisation of ideas
and expertise while the newly
formed Research and Education
Institutes will cut across academic
departmental structures for
shared objectives and resources.
ACADEMIC CLINICAL DIVISIONS
SingHealth Board
Duke-NUS Board
SingHealth Institutions
(Health Services)
Medical School(Education)
Academic MedicineOversight Council
Academic MedicineExecutive
Committee
SingHealth & Duke-NUS Joint Appointments
CLINICIAN CAREER MODELS
Teaching continues to be part and parcel of every clinician’s responsibility
➥ Focuses on Clinical Excellence
➥ Dedicates at least 90% of time for clinical practice
Clinician Investigator➥ Focuses on clinical research excellence➥ Dedicates between 10%-50% of time or research
Clinician Scientist➥ Focuses on research excellence➥ Dedicates between 50% or more of time for research
➥ Clinical and Teaching Excellence
➥ Dedicates at least 30% of time for teaching
BETTER QUALIFIED NURSES IN EVERY TRACK
REDEFINING ROLES OF NURSES IN ACADEMIC MEDICINE: ➥ strengthen career tracks in nursing education, clinical specialisation and research
➥ increase career advancement opportunities to become Nurse Educators, Nurse Clinician,
Nurse Managers, Advanced Practice Nurse
➥ enhance pay for degree-qualifi ed nurses
Staff Nurse Ethel Lim, SGH, with patient, Mr Dudley Dragon
CLINICIAN PRACTITIONER
CLINICIAN EDUCATOR
CLINICIAN RESEARCHER
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BY MONICA LIM
PULSE OF SINGHEALTH 2010
Vision: Defi ning
Tomorrow’s Medicine
Mission: Care to Heal,
Educate to Empower, Innovate to
Advance
ATTRACTING & RETAINING TALENT IN THE ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONS➥ By investing some $7 million
through our Talent Development
Fund and MOH Reinvestment Fund in
scholarships for Allied Health staff
➥ Through the Health Manpower
Development Programme
EXPANSION OF CAREER TRACKS➥ Widen opportunities for growth and
movement into specialty areas
ALLIED HEALTH CAREER TRACKS
Masters’ or EquivalentPrincipal AHP I/
Manager
Advanced Tier AHP Manager Advanced Tier AHP Specialist
Principal Specialist AHP I
Principal Specialist AHP II
PhD or Equivalent for researcher only
Advanced Tier AHP Research
Advanced Tier AHP Educator
Masters’ or Equivalent
Principal AHP Researcher I
Principal AHP Educator I
Principal AHP Researcher II
Principal AHP Educator II
Principal AHP I/ Manager
Principal AHP II/ Manager
Service AHP I
Service AHP II
AHP II
Clinical Generalist/Management Clinical EducationClinical ResearchClinical Specialist
AHP I
For the symbolic launch of the abridged Vision and Mission, we commissioned a young, up-and-coming local artist, Justin Lee, to create an interactive work of art with our SingHealth leaders. Justin’s artistic style synergises heritage and tradition with aspirations for the future.
Artist Justin Lee, Chairman of SingHealth Peter Seah, and DCEO Prof Ivy Ng
Ms Ho Jia Lei, Radiographer, NNI and Ms Valerie Ann Manlapaz, Medical Technologist, NHCS
RENEWING OUR COMMITMENTsymbolic launch of abridged vision & mission
Visit the ePulse of
SingHealth multimedia microsite
to tune in and download the full
GCEO’s staff address and videos
on what the vision and mission
mean to our staff
http://mysinghealth/epulse2010
Email feedback and comments to
Look out also for your
commemorative Post-it pad
for every staff!
Grme + Group
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EP C IN THE MAKING
AN
Quality improvement efforts
are not mere frills in
healthcare institutions –
they can mean the difference
between life and death.
We all know that quality has always
been a hallmark of the SingHealth
Group. But now, there are plans to
take it even further. The catalyst
for this is aptly named EPIC, which
stands for Enhancing Performance, Improving Care.
Championed by A/Prof Daphne Khoo,
Director of the SingHealth Clinical
Governance & Quality Management
(CGQM) department, the EPIC
programme is a concerted effort to
embrace all quality schemes and
training under one umbrella for
more integrated outcomes.
For A/Prof Khoo and her team,
EPIC was formed to serve one
main purpose.
“In Healthcare, our ultimate goal is to benefi t the patients. And their experiences are really dependent
on the entire system and process in the hospital. EPIC brings about larger scale, more impactful changes that improve this system for our patients,” she says.
Everyone can be a champion of
quality. EPIC covers three different
levels of training, including
EPIC Champion for Heads of
Departments, EPIC Professional
and EPIC Implementer.
EPIC Implementer is an evolution
of the current Clinical Practice
Improvement Project (CPIP) into a
more holistic approach. The new
model of improvement does not
limit the solution to just one method
and it enables the team members
to better understand the different
facets of the project.
New improved modules have
also been introduced into the
EPIC Professional programme,
which includes W.E. Deming’s
System of Profound Knowledge
- Understanding Variation and
Psychology; System Thinking and
Theory of knowledge - Model for
Improvement; Statistical Process
Control for analysing data; Strength
Deployment Inventory; Ladder of
Inference; Edward de Bono’s Six
Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking.
EPIC plans to train 100 to
150 participants a year.
Meanwhile, CGQM also
hopes that more will come to
understand how EPIC can achieve
more impactful outcomes and on
a larger scale in driving the quality
movement for the SingHealth Group.
Engaging the expertise of
the Associates in Process
Improvement (API), the EPIC
programme got off to a good start
with its maiden EPIC Professional
training completing its run in
September this year following
a successful EPIC Implementer
training earlier in May. API is an
American group of improvement
consultants who conduct the Institute
for Healthcare Improvement’s
Improvement Advisor course and are
author of “The Improvement Guide”.
The EPIC programme will combine existing quality initiatives under one single umbrella for more integrated outcomes that will benefi t patients.
BY MONICA LIM AND ARTHUR WONG
Grme + Group
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As an added resource, by
November 2010, a pocket guide
will be produced and distributed
to Heads of Departments and
staff who have undergone quality
training, as a handy reminder of
quality tools and techniques.
The driving force for EPIC is
Andrew Tan, Manager of CGQM.
He and his team have come up
with a three-year road map for the
programme and have been hard
at work spreading the importance
of enhancing performance and
improving care.
He clarifi es why he is so
passionate about quality.
“I joined SingHealth CGQM
because our contribution to quality
is related to a human life. That is
what really counts.”
And with the effort put in by him
and his team at CGQM, the EPIC
programme hopes to bring about
new innovations from SingHealth
professionals that will improve
the level of healthcare received
by our patients.
EPIC PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
EPIC IMPLEMENTER (EI): This three-day course equips staff with the tools and techniques to implement quality projects, as well as help them understand and contribute to the quality culture within SingHealth.
EPIC CHAMPION (EC): Helps Heads of Departments understand the overall programme structure, learning roadmaps, methodologies and roles to instill a positive quality culture within SingHealth.
EPIC PROFESSIONAL (EP): Trains improvement professionals to be teaching faculty and quality ambassadors, as well as to drive quality programmes and facilitate quality projects.
“I joined SingHealth CGQM because our contribution to quality is related to a human life. Th at is what really counts.”
– Andrew Tan, Manager, CGQM
For more information on
SingHealth quality improvement
training, kindly contact:
EPIC CHAMPION
EPIC PROFESSIONAL
EPIC IMPLEMENTER
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CL N CALRESEARCH BY MONICA LIM
I t is an undisputed fact
that clinical trials
are important
for the discovery
of treatment for
diseases and
for new drug
developments.
With the
current global
trend that
gives more and
more focus to
the East, Asian-
based research
becomes more signifi cant.
Previously, early phase medical
research had largely taken place
in US and Europe, which means
the results tend to be skewed
towards developed countries with a
Caucasian patient base.
In a giant leap forward
for research, the S$20m
SingHealth Investigational Medicine Unit (IMU) was launched on 30 July
2010 by Minister for Health Mr Khaw
Boon Wan at SingHealth. IMU is the
largest early phase clinical research
unit in Singapore, with trained
specialist staff, a dedicated 32-bed
facility including two beds in Duke-
NUS’ Chronobiology Lab, the fi rst in
Southeast Asia.
IMU allows more synergy between
clinical care, research and
innovation in SingHealth. Since
doctors at hospitals participating
in clinical trials have to be at the
forefront of their medical
specialty, it stands to
reason that patients
treated at these
hospitals receive
better care
and achieve
better health
outcomes,
something that
has been borne
out of a 2008 US
study. In addition,
patients who have
not responded to any
other forms of treatment
can access trial treatments or new
treatments that have emerged from
clinical trials.
IMU has several advantages,
not least of all, the high quality
of research and expertise of
researchers at SingHealth. With
over 40 medical disciplines and high
patient numbers across SingHealth
institutions, as well as a ready
pool of 1,000 healthy subjects in
the volunteer database, IMU has
a robust support framework for
conducting clinical studies.
IMU offers a conducive platform
for the development of thought
leadership among clinicians by
giving them the opportunity to grow
a deeper understanding of their
chosen specialty. Sue Tee, Director
of Clinical Trials Development
at SingHealth details the type of
support IMU gives to clinicians,
“Besides the physical facilities,
IMU provides manpower support
such as Clinical Research
Coordinators and Research
Nurses. This relieves much of the
coordination and administration
work from investigators, allowing
them to focus on their research.
We hope that more investigators
will recognise the benefi ts and run
their trials through IMU.”
As Prof Soo Khee Chee,
SingHealth Deputy CEO
(Research & Education)
succinctly put it, “This collaboration
will enable us to fulfi l Singapore’s
mission of being the preferred
research partner to global
pharmaceutical companies and
contract research organisations.
Overall, the IMU’s goal is to nurture
local academic research that will
shape tomorrow’s medicine.”
IMUTO ADVANCE
Sue Tee (centre), Director of Clinical Trials Development,
with the IMU team
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discussion for the past year, and
draws together expertise from
NUS, Duke-NUS, SGH, our industry
partners and NCCS. I anticipate
more trials in the coming months
and hope to keep the momentum.
IN YOUR EXPERIENCE CONDUCTING TRIALS BOTH OVERSEAS AND LOCALLY, WHAT ARE THE OBVIOUS ADVANTAGES OF SINGAPORE?
Dr Choo: Because
everything is within reach
in Singapore, we can get things
done quickly. Specimens are at most
transported between, say, SGH to
NUH, which is only a 15-minute drive.
We should maximise and capitalise
on these strengths and establish
better collaborations.
Dr Tan: We have excellent
multidisciplinary teams and a wide
range of specialty services. With
supportive regulatory and funding
bodies, coupled with the exciting
opportunities in drug development
as well as the effi cient healthcare
system, we are uniquely positioned
to develop early phase trials as a
niche area.
40% of trials in IMU were investigator-
initiated and led by local clinician-scientists.
It consists of 30 licensed hospital beds,
2 chronobiology laboratory suites,
3 consultation rooms, screening rooms,
and 7 dedicated clinical trial coordinators
and research nurses.
WHAT DOES THE IMU MEAN FOR YOU AS CLINICIANS?
Dr Choo: It’s excellent because
now we have access to a dedicated
Phase-1 setup within a hospital with
beds and staff available. We have been
doing Phase-1 trials for a while in a
general chemotherapy unit but that
is not the ideal setup as we couldn’t
really provide the extra monitoring
that Phase-1 patients need.
Dr Tan: It provides us with a
platform to run trials of higher
complexity because we can coordinate
blood investigations, novel imaging
techniques and biopsies. This facility
gives us assurance to resource
intensive trials.
DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE ONGOING CLINICAL TRIALS IN THE IMU?
Dr Choo: I have two phase-1 trials,
testing the combination of existing
medication and new cancer drugs
for the fi rst time.
The patients require intensive
monitoring and are required to stay
under IMU’s observation for drug
reactions and blood tests.
Dr Tan: A trial on drug combination
is about to start. It has been under
IMU IN NUMBERS
IMU is located in Singapore General Hospital
Block 7, Level 7.
In September 2010, there were 18 ongoing
clinical trials in IMU and 3 have been
completed. There are 5 more to start soon.
1000 healthy volunteers are currently
in the IMU database.
As at September 2010 there
were 17 Principal Investigators
conducting trials in IMU.
“With supportive regulatory and
funding bodies, coupled with the
exciting opportunities in drug
development as well as the effi cient
health care system, we are uniquely
positioned to develop early phase
trials as a niche area.”
-Dr Daniel Tan, Associate Consultant, NCCS
Dr Daniel Tan, Associate Consultant,
DMO, NCCS
Dr Choo Su Pin, Consultant,
DMO, NCCS
me+SH speaks to two clinicians from the Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer
Centre Singapore (NCCS) - Dr Daniel Tan, Associate Consultant and Dr Choo Su Pin,
Consultant - to fi nd out their take on the recent establishment of IMU.
Grme + Group
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Dispensers f Kn w edgeI f you think that pharmacists
merely dispense medication,
think again. In today’s context,
pharmacists contribute to patient
care with their invaluable medical
knowledge as teachers, researchers,
counsellors and service deliverers.
With this enlarged job scope, it
became necessary to put in place
a more comprehensive model
of training and development to
ensure that pharmacists are able
to remain proactive and relevant
in their profession.
In April 2009, a new pharmacy
competency framework was
launched at SGH in response to
these evolving needs. Adapted from
the Competency Development &
Evaluation Group (CoDEG), a network
of researchers, practitioners and
academic pharmacists, the General
Level Framework (GLF) has been
used in the UK, Europe and Australia
and validated in hospital and
community practice.
What sets the GLF apart
from other development
models is its systematic
way of documenting service
delivery and performance of junior
pharmacists. Pharmacists receive
peer assessments across four
groups of competencies, namely
Delivery of Patient Care, Clinical,
Professional and Research. They are
graded on a four-point scale for each
competency, forming a measurable
gauge of performance.
A baseline assessment is done at
the start of the junior pharmacist’s
career at SGH, after which an
assessment is done every four to
six months. The results speak for
themselves - from June 2009 to April
2010, the proportion of pharmacists
who had met more than 75% of
standards rose from 52% to 89%.
BY MONICA LIM
Across all major competencies,
average standards increased.
According to Mr Lim Mun Moon,
Deputy Director of Pharmacy at SGH,
the GLF does not just bring about a
more structured form of appraisal.
“GLF is a whole teaching structure.
It allows for development needs
to be identifi ed and training to be
customised for specifi c individuals.”
Each clinical group is mentored
by preceptors who are senior
pharmacists at SGH. Junior
staff rotate to a different clinical
group every four months, allowing
them to acquire in-depth knowledge
while under supervision. Those not
meeting the grade are monitored
and provided with the necessary
guidance. This is in contrast to the
old system where junior staff learn
on the job from their seniors in an
unstructured manner.
After two years, when a junior Mr Lim Mun Moon, Deputy Director, SGH Pharmacy
“GLF is a whole teaching structure. It allows for development needs to be identifi ed and training to be customised for specifi c individuals.”– Mr Lim Mun Moon, Deputy Director,
SGH Pharmacy
Grme + Group
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pharmacist is found to have
consistently met competency
standards, he or she will move on
to the Advanced Level Framework
(ALF) which also lays down a
comprehensive set of guidelines
aligned to pharmacists’ career
pathways. For instance, if one
wanted to pursue a Pharmacy
Clinician-Scientist track, one would
need to attain Mastery level in
Leadership and Research whereas
the Pharmacy Practice Manager
track requires a Foundation level
in Research but a Mastery level in
Building Working Relationships.
The response to the new system
has largely been positive, with most
pharmacists welcoming the focus on
learning and development. In fact,
all of the other institutions in the
SingHealth cluster have adopted the
GLF and ALF.
For Mr Lim, the benefi ts of the new
framework are clear. “We are able
to achieve more consistent levels of
practice which translate into better
and safer care for patients.”
CLINICAL COMPETENCIES Knowledge
Problem SolvingPROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES Personal
Working as part of a team
RESEARCH COMPETENCIES Critical Evaluation
Identifi es gaps in the evidence base
Research evidence into practice
DELIVERY OF PATIENT CARE COMPETENCIES Patient Consultation
Gathering Information
Provision of Medication
Drug Specifi c Issues
Discharge Facilitation & Patient Education
Risk Management & Service Improvement
GENERAL LEVEL FRAMEWORK (GLF)
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A fter learning that he had
diabetes in 1993, Mr Khoo Kay
Lock became a changed man.
With the support of his elderly father
who also has diabetes, Mr Khoo made
many changes to his life to turn his
health around.
He has kept
his illness
under control –
the successful
outcome
of a strict
diet and
exercise
that he
wants to
share with
other people
suffering from
diabetes.
According to Senior
Staff Nurse Woo Yuen
Kau of Bedok Polyclinic, Mr Khoo’s
willingness to share his experience
with other newly diagnosed patients at
the Diabetic Support Group of Bedok
Polyclinic has been viewed positively
by other patients. “Not only did the
other newly diagnosed patients relate
to how he felt and thought when he
was fi rst diagnosed, they were also
encouraged by his stories of how
he has adopted a new lifestyle. His
experience is an impetus for them
to take control of their own medical
condition,” she said.
Just as some new patients have
diffi culty accepting the
diagnosis that they have
diabetes, Mr Khoo
similarly reacted
to his diagnosis
in 1993 in
disbelief.
However, his
father was a
great source
of comfort.
Also suffering
from diabetes,
his father
assured him that
having the disease
wasn’t the end of the
world, and that it could
be controlled with proper diet
and exercise.
Encouraged, Mr Khoo, who used
to eat whatever and whenever
he liked, began to be more
careful about his food. He no longer
ate two bowls of rice. Most diffi cult
for him, though, was having to give
up drinking alcohol which can cause
blood sugar to rise. It was an activity
that the former taxi driver shared with
his friends.
But his sacrifi ces paid off. Not only
did he manage to overcome the initial
setback, he has also been able to
keep his illness under control.
SingHealth Inspirational Patient Award 2010
BESTKNOWSFATHER
BY CONSTANCE NONIS
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“Not only could the other newly diagnosed patients relate to how he felt and thought when he was fi rst diagnosed, they were also encouraged by his stories of how he has adopted a new lifestyle. His experience is an impetus for them to take control of their own medical condition.”
– Senior Staff Nurse Woo Yuen Kau,
SingHealth Polyclinics – Bedok
T o see warm blood course into
the chambers of a newly-
implanted heart, and to see it
slowly come to life as it starts beating,
is always a magical moment.
For Ms Kerk Ka Lee,
however, it is just the
middle milestone in
a long but satisfying
process.
As Manager of
Heart and Lung
Transplantation at the
National Heart Centre
Singapore (NHCS) - which is the
only place where you can get a heart
transplant done in Singapore - she is
responsible for ensuring that proper
evaluation of the heart and the patient
is carried out before the transplant,
and that the patient is well taken care
of after the procedure.
In Singapore, heart diseases are
among the top three causes of
hospitalisation, and one out of three
deaths here are due to heart disease
or stroke.
Ms Kerk’s job involves
mobilising the different parts of
the transplant team, including
surgeons, nurses, pharmacist,
anaesthetists, once she learns that
there is a donor heart available.
Calls can come in at anytime,
including in the middle of the night.
The unit gets about 30 donor calls a
year. “When a call comes, I have to
make arrangements to investigate the
heart or lung, to see if it’s suitable. If
it is, I then alert the team.”
She also has to inform the organ
recipient. “Sometimes I may not have
the luxury of time to wait for the test
results, and see if the organ
is suitable. So I will call the
recipient, tell them to go to
the hospital and wait.”
It can be said that she is
the administrative pin who
holds the different pieces of
the transplant fabric together.
Typically, about 20 medical staff are activated in a single-organ transplant procedure and meetings are held before every transplant to run through the process. “A transplant is really a multi-disciplinary team effort,” said Ms Kerk.
She also does coordination for
lung transplants and helps to
monitor patients who may be on the
waiting list for a donor heart and are
using mechanical hearts in the interim.
Starting out as a nurse, Ms Kerk
became a transplant coordinator and
joined the Heart/Lung Transplant
Programme at NHCS in 2002 when
she decided she wanted more regular
working hours instead of having to
work shifts.
She has found the job
immensely fulfi lling. Unlike
when she was a nurse, she keeps tabs
on transplant patients even after they
leave the hospital, and sometimes they
call her up to ask her for health advice.
“For them it’s a long road to
recovery which also involves lifelong
medication and compliance to an
active lifestyle,” she said.
She added: “These patients awaiting
transplant, when they come in, are
really very sick.” A transplant is
only offered as the last option when
medical therapy fails. “Sometimes,
while waiting for a transplant, we lose
the patient.”
“So to see their health restored,
walk out of the hospital and go back
to society to work, makes me feel
very proud.”
Kerk Ka Lee is a transplant coordinator at the National Heart Centre Singapore. And she is at the
centre of the heart transplant process.
TRANSPLANTHE RTLynchpin
Vibrant Campus
Ms Kerk Ka Lee and the Heart-Lung transplant team
In July 2010, SingHealth started efforts to align all our
transplant programmes into one integrated service.
Learn more about SingHealth's Comprehensive
Transplant Services at
www.singhealth.com.sg/PatientCare/SingHealth-Transplant
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Vibrant Campus
E ducation is one of SingHealth’s
three pillars of excellence, and
at the Singapore National Eye
Centre (SNEC), it is being refreshed and
prioritised with the recent restructuring
of its Training and Education (T&E) arm.
The man at the helm of the department,
Dr Ian Yeo, expounds: “The pillar
of education is often overlooked
because it doesn’t have any direct
output. Yet, it is signifi cant because
it feeds into the other two pillars of
clinical and research. Without trained
professionals, we won’t have quality
clinical care or research outcomes.”
SNEC is already widely considered as
the premier eye centre in Southeast
Asia, employing about two-thirds of
the nation’s eye doctors. In terms
of T&E, it offers an attractive
proposition combining some of the
best surgical and training facilities with
a strong clinical team spanning all
ophthalmic subspecialties.
Dr Yeo, who is also a Senior Consultant
in SNEC’s Cataract and Comprehensive
Ophthalmology Service, hopes to
strengthen the focus on training and
education further so that SNEC can
continue to be a source
of eye care experts
for generations to
come. With its staff
strength increased
from two to eight,
the department
has taken sure and
steady measures in
preparation for the
tasks ahead.
MAKING LEARNING MEANINGFULThe biggest change that the SNEC
will be facing is the impending revised
Ophthalmology Residency Program
commencing in July 2011. The move to
a program guided by the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical Education
International (ACGME-I) will see
signifi cant shifts in the curriculum and
pedagogy, including a more structured
training framework, emphasis on
formative and summative assessments
throughout the year, as well as more
interaction and engagement between
the trainer and the resident.
At the heart of the fi ve-year Residency
Program is a more personalised
teaching process which can only result
in more meaningful education for the
residents, something that Dr Yeo
is all for.
For a start, the Residency
Program will have an
intake of fi ve to six
residents a year and
gradually increase over
time. Meanwhile, efforts
are underway to beef up
the talent pool supporting the
Residency Program, including the
recruitment of resident-physicians
and service registrars, to free up
time for doctors, allowing them to
concentrate on their subspecialties
and teaching responsibilities.
No stone will be left unturned.
Doctors will participate in ongoing
training to learn how to teach under
the purview of ACGME-I, covering
areas such as learning objectives,
assessment and ranking methods.
Eventually, the goal is to have over
30 dedicated doctors on the core and
teaching faculty of the Residency
Program, providing a comfortable one-
to-one doctor-resident ratio.
After completing their residency,
the T&E department will assist the
residents in their subspecialisation
fellowship choices. This is where
the doctors hone their skills in their
chosen subspecialty, either locally or
overseas. The T&E department will
continue to engage the doctors while
they are away and also help prepare
for their eventual return to the centre.
This is something Dr Yeo treats with
utmost gravity. He says with conviction,
“I don’t believe there is a lousy doctor, just an unguided one. If we can understand the individual ability of each doctor, we can nurture them to an appropriate role in SNEC.”
BY MONICA LIM
EDUCATIONEYE ON
Dr Ian Yeo (centre), head of Training & Education Department, SNEC
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Vibrant Campus
KNOWLEDGE-SAVVY, TECH-SAVVY Fully embracing the philosophy that
learning should be continuous
and lifelong, the T&E department
also facilitates a wide spectrum of
education activities under the banner
of “CCC” which stands for Continuing
Medical Education (CME), Courses
and Conferences. From the extensive
subspecialty courses and lectures by
specialists to international meetings
and symposiums, these programmes
underscore the reputation SNEC has
cultivated as a centre with a breadth
and depth of ophthalmic expertise
unmatched by many.
Majority of the participants are from
regional countries looking to upgrade
their knowledge and skills, while
some are local eye doctors keen to
study the latest technique or usage
of new equipment. As part of their
outreach efforts, SNEC sends doctors
to countries such as Indonesia and
Vietnam to teach their peers and share
knowledge, incentivising collaboration
between neighbours.
The responsibilities of the T&E
department do not end there. It
supervises all who walk SNEC’s
hallways to learn, whether they are
clinicians, doctors or medical students
on attachment, overseas students
undergoing their electives, or students
on observations. On top of that, the
department also handles all the day-
to-day administrative duties involving
residents, such as rounds and call
rosters covering the wards, clinics
and Ophthalmology A&E.
IT is a valuable enabler and has been
leveraged to reduce the administrative
workload and improve productivity. It
has also been called on to bridge the
generation gap. By enlisting popular
social networking applications such
as Facebook and Twitter to attract
residents, the T&E department is
staying relevant to a generation that
has grown up in a tech-savvy world.
TRANSFORMING LIVESAmerican historian and author Henry
Brooks Adams once said, “A teacher
affects eternity; he can never tell where
his infl uence stops.” From speaking
with Dr Yeo, it is clear that he believes
whole-heartedly in the potentially life-
changing legacy of teachers. For him,
seeing his residents do well is most
gratifying, to know that he has done his
part in preparing them.
This is no lip service – when he was
just a registrar, he did not want his
juniors to struggle like he did and
went the extra mile to teach them on
his own time. For his efforts, he was
pleasantly surprised by the SNEC Best
Teacher Award in 2001 and remains the
youngest recipient of the award to date.
Today, this affable head of department
has an open-door policy and insists
on being called “Ian” by everyone, his
rationale being that all the doctors will
become senior consultants one day.
Leading by example, he dedicates some
50% of his time to teaching and he
hopes he can help shape the culture of
teaching and nurturing in SNEC.
“We all remember fondly some
clinician who taught us”, Dr Yeo
explains his dedication, “and we’re
all here today in some way because
of our teachers. In the same light
and tradition, I want SNEC to build
its academic foundation so that it can
continue to groom future generations
of outstanding ophthalmologists.”
Fellowships
(local and
overseas)
Attachments,
observations,
electives
Residency
Program
Administration
(call roster,
rounds)
CME, Courses,
Conferences
TRAINING AND EDUCATION
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15
The SingHealth Residency Program also
offers a formal framework for faculty
development as well as for residents,
which was not as well established in the
old system, to recognise the teaching
contribution of the faculty staff. Doctors
undergo teaching competencies training,
and are directly compensated for their
teaching time, as they meet clearly laid out
KPIs. Faculty development is also a means
to meet educational demands in terms
of new developments in teaching and
training of the future health care providers
requiring a higher order of skills and to be
valuable contributors to our pursuit to be a
leader in Academic Medicine.
The partnership with Duke-NUS
is a necessity that allows us to
understand residency training in
depth and get guidance from our Duke
University partners in developing a top-
grade Residency Program for SingHealth.
This has generated renewed interest
in education among doctors, much to
Prof Song’s delight. “It’s encouraging to
see how many doctors have indicated
a passion for teaching,” he says with
obvious enthusiasm. “The scale of
our operations is limited only by our
imaginative collectivity. With a fresh
injection of ideas, we can set new
standards for medical education.”
WHO HAS INSPIRED YOU IN YOUR OWN LEARNING JOURNEY?This would have to be the late Professor
Bert Myburgh, Head of Surgery at
University of the Witwatersrand group
of teaching hospitals in Johannesburg,
my alma mater. His lecture style was so
captivating that his classes were always
well attended. He was very well read
and I was inspired by how he seemed
to always have some new information
to share. He made such an impact on
me that he became my role model,
and I continually aspire to acquire new
knowledge to pass on.
M edical education at
the SGH campus
dates back
over a century to 1905
when Singapore’s fi rst
medical school, the
King Edward VII School
of Medicine, was
established. From 1982
however, this formal
medical education was
shifted to Kent Ridge
under the purview of NUS
Faculty of Medicine and
over the years, a perception that
teaching was secondary to clinical work
started to develop.
For Prof Colin Song, the establishment
of Duke-NUS at the SGH campus in 2007
heralded a long overdue revival of medical
education at SGH.
“Teaching is part of our heritage,” he
explains. “Every doctor has the innate
ability to teach since we all have to help
educate patients about their health.
We just need to draw out these natural
abilities and rediscover the importance
of teaching.”
A new milestone in SingHealth’s learning
journey is the launch of the SingHealth
Residency Program. It is
a departure from the
traditional one in that
it has a formalised
teaching structure and
is characterised by
ongoing assessments.
The program
trains doctors in
six competencies
– patient care,
medical knowledge,
practice-based learning &
improvement, interpersonal
skills and communications,
professionalism, and systems-based
practice. SingHealth also added a star
competency: Faculty Development.
After every rotation, there is a formative
assessment of the resident, which
enables progress to be regularly tracked.
Those found not meeting expectations
can be easily identifi ed and helped
with remediation.
There are currently 14 Residency
Programs, each comprising a Program
Director, Core Faculty Members and
Physician Faculty Members who each
dedicates a certain amount of time to
teaching. A Program Coordinator helps
with the administration.
EDUCATI N
TRANSFORMING THE FACE OFBY MONICA LIM & WONG SHER MAINE
“TEACHING IS A WAY FOR DOCTORS TO GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY.”
– PROF COLIN SONGGroup Director, Education and SingHealth Designated Institutional Offi cial,
SingHealth Residency
Head & Senior Consultant, Department of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, SGH
In our pursuit of Academic Medicine in partnership with Duke-NUS, education
has received an added boost at SingHealth. We speak to three drivers of
education in SingHealth to fi nd out their take on the role of education in
SingHealth’s Academic Medicine journey.
SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to EmpowerSpSpecial
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SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to Empower
“Th e pursuit of Academic Medicine is a journey. It is not education and research for their own sake but for better patient care.”– Dr Edwin Low
A cademic Medicine
is a buzzword
that has
permeated
SingHealth of
late, but what is
it really? To put
it simply, it is
the integration
of education and
research with
clinical service to
improve healthcare.
The focus on
education and research is
what differentiates Academic
Medicine from traditional medicine
which had typically emphasised
clinical service above
all else.
Dr Edwin Low, Group
Director, Offi ce of
Academic Medicine and Group
Director, Strategic HR, explains:
“The pursuit of Academic Medicine
is a journey. It is not education and
research for their own sake but for
better patient care.”
The vehicle for education
under the Offi ce of
Academic Medicine
is the SingHealth
Academy,
which Dr Low
regards as the
change agent
for SingHealth,
leveraging on
education to
build up staff
competencies.
The Offi ce of
Academic Medicine
also steers SingHealth’s
partnership with Duke-NUS, a
collaboration that has yielded great
synergies, forged by shared values
and objectives for research, education
and Academic Clinical Divisions
(ACD). The ACD, which will be rolled
out over the next one year, lays the
foundation for the Academic Medicine
journey at SingHealth.
The Leadership Development
Programme is another important
complementary initiative that has
been introduced to equip people to
lead and show them how they can
play a role in SingHealth’s vision
for Academic Medicine. In Dr Low’s
eyes, everyone is a leader. He quips,
“whether you are leading a project
or a department, you have to make
decisions on how to motivate, how
to work in a team, how to resolve
confl icts and so on.” Comprising
three levels of courses - Emerging
Leadership (ELP), Performance
Leadership (PLP) and Organisational
Leadership (OLP) - the Leadership
Development Programme helps
“Th e scale of our operations is limited only by our imaginative collectivity. With a fresh injection of ideas, we can set new standards for medical education.”– Prof Colin Song
“EDUCATION IS THE TOOL FOR CHANGING MINDSETS.
IT EMPOWERS.”
– DR EDWIN LOW
Group Director, Offi ce of Academic Medicine, SingHealth
Group Director, Strategic HR, SingHealth
Visiting Consultant, Hyperbaric & Diving Medicine Centre, SGH
equip staff with leadership skills at a
level that is appropriate to their roles
and responsibilities.
For Dr Low, the biggest challenge
in the pursuit of Academic Medicine
is to instill the very critical spirit
of inquiry in all SingHealth staff.
“Academic Medicine involves
everyone in healthcare, whether it is
doctors, nurses, allied health staff
or administrators,” he asserts. “We
need to help everyone understand
and support what we are trying to
achieve, and see the value of ongoing
training and improvement towards
this goal.”
WAS THERE ANY PARTICULAR TEACHER WHO INSPIRED YOU?I was in the UK training for my anaesthesia
exams which typically had a low passing rate of
about 25%. During the year I was there, an RAF
obstetric anaesthesiologist consultant volunteered
to set up a course for us trainees about to sit for the
Part 3 exam. Every morning at 7.30am, he would set
us mock papers and drilled us on exam techniques.
That year, seven out of eight students passed the
exam, an unprecedented number. It just takes one
doctor to make a difference.
SpSpecial
17
SingHealth Academy is here to contribute towards SingHealth’s vision of Academic Medicine – our training and events need to refl ect this.”– Mr Tay Sin Hwa
WHICH TEACHER INSPIRED YOU IN YOUR OWN LIFE?In secondary school, I hated chemistry
and so developed a bad attitude towards it. No
surprises that I did badly in the subject. Instead of
admonishing me, my teacher Mr Ling approached
me and gave me one-on-one lessons after school.
He was very patient and personalised all the
concepts for me. It ignited my interest - I didn’t
realise chemistry could be so interesting! I began
studying in earnest and eventually did well in
it. From there I realised that there are no poor
learners, we just need great teachers.
institutions entrusting their training
programmes to SingHealth Academy,
so that they may be extended to more
participants within the cluster.
“SingHealth is like a well crafted
watch,” Mr Tay describes. “In order
for a watch to keep perfect time,
the many parts inside need to work
together in precision. SingHealth
Academy and our partners work
in unison to groom and nurture
future generations of healthcare
professionals, just as a good watch
is passed down from generation
to generation.”
W hen Mr Tay
Sin Hwa
took
over the reins
of SingHealth
Academy on 1
July 2010, he
found that it
was organising
numerous training
programmes and
events but there
was a lack of focus. Mr
Tay expounds, “We need to
remember that SingHealth Academy
is here to contribute towards
SingHealth’s vision of Academic
Medicine – our training and events
need to refl ect this.”
In a survey done in January 2010, 50%
of staff and 60% of doctors indicated
that their workload did not allow them
the time to go for training. This is of
huge concern to Mr Tay. If doctors and
staff do not
have time
to upgrade
their skills
and keep
up with
the rapidly
evolving
advances in
medical and
healthcare
knowledge,
this could
result in
deteriorating clinical services and
diminished capabilities.
“If staff do not have time to attend
training, we must fi nd a way to bring
training to them,” persists Mr Tay.
This is where technology
comes into the
picture. SingHealth
Academy’s fi ve-year
plan is to establish
the ideal solution
of blended
learning, which
is a multi-faceted
combination of
e-learning platforms
and smart classroom
methods to complement
face-to-face teaching in a
classroom setting.
Mr Tay envisions SingHealth
Academy developing expertise
and rapport with SingHealth
educational institutes so that it can
become the training institution of
choice. To achieve this, staff double
up as internal consultants to manage
accounts and serve the institutions
as project experts. In this manner, Mr
Tay hopes to
provide more
proactive and
personalised
service which
would include
being able to
assess the
needs of each
institution
and deliver
the right
tools,
whether
they be customised training,
publications, or even in-house
designed programmes.
His plan seems to be on the right
track so far, with already some
“HEALTHCARE EDUCATION CONTINUES TO CHANGE RAPIDLY AND WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR METHODS
OF TEACHING FOR BETTER OUTCOMES.” – MR TAY SIN HWA
Director, SingHealth Academy
“SingHealth Academy and our partners work in unison to groom and nurture future
generations of healthcare professionals, just as a good watch is passed down from generation to generation.”
SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to EmpowerSpSpecial
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The patient was so determined to
die. He told Ms Esther Lim that
his only regret was that he did not
make a deeper cut on his wrist.
The 40-something chief executive offi cer
had landed himself at SGH after failed
suicide attempts via drug overdose,
alcohol poisoning and wrist slashing,
because he had gambled and lost huge
sums of money overnight.
Ms Lim, then a junior medical social
worker, was unsure of what to do. At
the time in 1995, about 30 suicidal
patients turned up at the hospital every
month. This was her fi rst encounter
with a suicidal patient.
“His tears kept falling,” recalled Ms Lim.
“On a suicidal measurement scale of zero
to 10, 10 being the most serious, I would
have scored him a nine.”
Nothing that Ms Lim, who had previously
attended a two-day suicide intervention
workshop, said could change his mind. In
desperation, she tried a different strategy.
“I asked him if he’s spoken to his wife
about his debts so that she won’t blame
herself after he dies.
“Since you have so made up your mind to
kill yourself, there is no real hurry right?”
Ms Lim recounted.
It worked. The man’s wife proved
forgiving, he was discharged, and a year
later sent a card to Ms Lim with one
poignant line written on it: “I’m still alive.”
It is a story Ms Lim, now Head Medical
Social Worker and Family Therapist at
SGH, often repeats to those she teaches
at the SGH-Postgraduate Allied Health
Institute (SGH-PGAHI). Lecturing on the
topic of suicide intervention, she conducts
two to three two-day training sessions in
a year.
“It has been very satisfying to be able to
help people who are on the frontline,”
said Ms Lim. “Backed by the strong
support from PGAHI, my team and I are
able to focus on teaching, improve on the
quality of it and to train more people in
suicide intervention.”
The doctors, nurses, police offi cers,
teachers and counsellors who attend her
class all come across suicidal people in
their line of work. Ms Lim, who attended
a special suicide intervention course in
Canada in 1999, teaches them how to
help these people.
Satisfaction is when students - like a
police offi cer who applied what she learnt
in class to persuade a teenager to step
away from a 15th fl oor ledge - tell her she
helped them to save lives.
“She even thanked her police commander
for sending her to the course!” said
Ms Lim.
Ms Esther Lim
teaches at the SGH-
Postgraduate Allied
Health Institute’s
ASIST programme on
how to help people
who are suicidal.
SGH - POSTGRADUATE ALLIED HEALTH INSTITUTE (SGH-PGAHI)
ABOUT THE ASIST PROGRAMMEApplied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is an
internationally recognised certifi cate training workshop.
Founded by LivingWorks Education Inc, Canada, ASIST is
the most widely used, acclaimed and researched suicide
intervention skills training in the world. Set in an interactive
and practice-oriented learning environment, workshop
participants acquire the essential skills to intervene and
prevent the immediate risk of suicide. PGAHI has a local pool
of experienced certifi ed trainers who conduct this two-day
workshop regularly.
SGH - POSTGRADUATE ALLIED HEALTH INSTITUTE (SGH-PGAHI)Established in 2003, SGH-PGAHI enhances patient care by
providing courses for allied health professionals that either
advance their specialist clinical skills training or bridge
competency gaps for practice in Singapore for those recruited
from non-traditional sources.
Annually, SGH-PGAHI offers more than 45 courses and at least
1200 training places across a comprehensive range of allied
health disciplines. Course offerings include workshops, multi-
disciplinary symposiums, clinical attachments and Certifi cation
programmes. These courses are developed and taught either by
SGH allied health clinicians or in partnership with external local
and overseas faculty and established institutions.
www.sgh.com.sg/pgahi
ESTHER LIMHead Medical Social Worker
and Family Therapist
Singapore General Hospital
SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to Empower SpSpecial
19
Every medical professional has a
story to tell of patients who make a
profound impact on their lives. For
Ethel Lim, 22, she will never forget a young
cancer-stricken teacher on her deathbed
who befriended her.
“She was in her mid-20s, at the peak of her
life, and had been teaching for a few months
when cancer struck,” recalled Ms Lim, who
was serving her Nanyang Polytechnic clinical
attachment at the time. “She told me to do
what I set out to do,
and to fi nish it well. She
never had the chance.”
The patient died. But
her words cemented Ms
Lim’s desire to go far in
her chosen profession.
With her nursing diploma warm in hand,
Ms Lim, who topped her polytechnic cohort
two years in a row, quickly applied to the
SingHealth Alice Lee Institute of Advanced
Nursing (IAN) for a scholarship to study for
a nursing degree in Sydney in 2009.
“I’m thankful that Prof Lim (Prof Lim Swee
Hia, SingHealth’s Director of Nursing) is very
supportive of continuous learning and gives
us so many opportunities,” said Ms Lim. “I
would not have been able to go without the
scholarship, and with my fi nancial worries
taken care of I could fully concentrate on
my studies.”
Studying in Australia proved to be life-
changing. Apart from having her fi rst taste
of truly independent living, the course was
an eye-opener.
For Ms Lim, one of the highlights of
the degree was the research module.
“Previously I did not know much about
research-based work. In my time there
I learnt a lot about how to enquire and
methodically research topics”
With her passion in
intensive care, Ms
Lim’s knowledge
from her degree
came right into
use back at the
SGH MICU where
she worked.
“When patients come, the nurses are
the fi rst line of contact. I now have the
knowledge and skills needed to be confi dent
when working in the ICU and with giving
the best care that I can to my patients,”
explained Ms Lim.
Ms Lim now plans to take up an advanced
diploma in critical care. Ultimately, she
wants to focus on training young nurses.
“I like teaching,” said Ms Lim. “In a way I
was partially infl uenced by the teacher who
died from cancer. Like her, I aspire to teach.
She didn’t have time to fi nish it, but I can.”
ETHEL LIMStaff Nurse, Ward 45 (MICU)
Singapore General Hospital
The SingHealth Alice Lee
Institute of Advanced
Nursing helped Ethel Lim
to fulfi l a dream.
SINGHEALTH - ALICE LEE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCE NURSING (ALICE LEE IAN)
Established in 1997, SingHealth Alice Lee IAN is dedicated to enhancing nursing skills and promoting excellence in lifelong learning among nursing professionals.
It is the fi rst institute of advanced nursing to be established in a hospital in Singapore.
Courses offered include Certifi cation courses, Specialisation programmes, a Fellowship programme, and Nursing management courses up to postgraduate doctorates in Nursing. Educational tours to various countries are available for selected SingHealth nurses.
Clinical attachments and supervision are provided to nursing students from NUS, Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and ITE.
It is a Workforce Development Agency (WDA) Approved Training Organisation for ancillary Healthcare providers.
SingHealth Alice Lee IAN is the fi rst in Asia and only the third country out of the United States to be accredited by the Accreditation American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC) as a Continuing Nursing Education Provider. The accreditation has been extended to February 2013.
Over 8200 nurses were trained in 2009 alone. It has trained over 2000 overseas participants from 60 different countries from 2005 –2009.
www.sgh.com.sg/Education/Alice-Lee-Institute-of-Advanced-Nursing
SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to EmpowerSpSpecial
20
Australian doctor Ian Cheung’s
experience in Singapore could
prove to be life-changing.
Four months into a six-month clinical
attachment stint with the SGH
Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI),
the 34-year-old orthopaedic surgeon
has not only learnt a whole new suite of
technical skills, he has been wowed by
the facilities and people he has met.
“It has been a fantastic experience,”
said Dr Cheung, who was based at the
Logan Hospital in Queensland, Australia.
“Predominantly, it has made a huge
difference in my spinal training. I can
say a lot of my surgical techniques
come from here.”
He is an orthopaedic surgeon who chose
to come to SGH to hone his surgical
skills because of its reputation as a
major centre in the region, both in terms
of surgical expertise and its modern
facilities. “Quite a few people back home
told me about PGMI,” said Dr Cheung.
“I also heard there was a high volume of
work here, and that would expose me to
a fair bit of spinal surgery.”
Some of the areas he got to work in
during his clinical attachment include
deformity correction and spinal injuries
caused by infection and trauma.
He was also highly impressed with the
orthopaedic diagnostic centre, which
tracks clinical outcomes in an objective
manner and is the only one of its kind
in Singapore.
“It is a very effi cient set-up with a lot of
good data. I hope to take bits and pieces
of that back with me, in that I may take
data from patients before and after
operations to analyse my own surgical
outcomes,” he said.
On his return to Australia, Dr Cheung
plans to build further the training he’s
had here and will be attached as a
Clinical Fellow at Wesley and Princess
Alexandra Hospitals in Brisbane.
What has also made his stint memorable is
the people, from the supervisors who teach
him, in his words, “the tricks of the trade”,
Giving doctors aspecialist edgeComing to the SGH Postgraduate Medical Institute for a
clinical attachment proved to be an eye-opening experience
for Australian doctor Ian Cheung.
DR IAN CHEUNGFellow, Orthopaedic Surgery
Singapore General Hospital
Established in 1994, SGH-PGMI is committed to promoting postgraduate medical education and clinical training of medical professionals.
It has a rich portfolio of programmes, from Clinical Skills Training, Scientifi c meetings, and Telemedicine. SGH-PGMI also nurtures education educators and clinician researchers through E-learning and didactics programmes such as Faculty development and Medical Pedagogy.
The institute also collaborates with renowned institutes to promote knowledge and expertise sharing such as Duke, Duke- NUS, Stanford and Cheongam University. The collaborations extends to Resident exchange and Fellowship opportunities for foreign medical specialists. To date, its programmes have successfully trained over 400 foreign doctors representing 30 nationalities.
Its motto is the Latin “Melius Medicus Scientius”, meaning “The better doctor is the learned one”.
www.pgmi.com.sg
to the junior staff and house offi cers.
During his PGMI orientation, he was
invited to attend a staff appreciation
ceremony. “I saw that it was part of the
SGH culture to recognise and appreciate
people. That’s exceptional.”
He added: “I fi nd that people here are
very friendly and hardworking. Then there
are the supervisors who run busy clinical
practices but who also do research, train
and teach. There is a lot for me to look
up to.”
SGH - POST GRADUATE MEDICAL INSTITUTE
(SGH-PGMI)
SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to Empower SpSpecial
21
Just four months into the SingHealth
Residency Program, Dr Lee Guo
Zhang, 27, became star-struck.
For under the program’s training
structure, he got to work with Associate
Professor Koo Wen Hsin, who heads the
National Cancer Centre’s department of
Medical Oncology.
Said Dr Lee, who had just completed
his housemanship in May and wants to
specialise in Internal Medicine, “A/Prof
Koo is amazing, truly my role model. I
was astounded by how humble he is even
though he is a very senior doctor.”
In just one instance, Dr Lee witnessed
A/Prof Koo, who personally conducted
a digital rectal examination of a cancer
patient, crush a paper towel before wiping
the patient’s buttock. When Dr Lee asked
why, A/Prof Koo replied that crushing the
rough towel would make it a little softer
and more comfortable for the patient.
“I fi nd it inspiring, how he treats our
patients,” said Dr Lee. “Indeed, the
Residency Program is run by a whole
group of senior doctors who are not just
great clinicians but are experienced
teachers. It is my privilege to be taught
by them.”
A/Prof Koo is a core faculty member
of the SingHealth Residency Program,
which started in May this year.
It is a new program in the postgraduate
medical education system that boasts
of a structured training framework,
continuous formative assessment and a
dedicated core faculty who get protected
time for residency training.
It was these factors that attracted Dr Lee,
who graduated from the Yong Loo Lin
School of Medicine, when he chose to go
with the Residency Program. “I’m glad I
made that choice. I will become a better
clinician in a shorter time. The Residency
Program is a very well-rounded course
and is focused on what I need to learn in
order to specialise in Internal Medicine,
he said.
What he has truly enjoyed, apart from the
great teaching, is talking to and listening
to the patients as he makes his ward
rounds. He has also discovered that he
is particularly interested in caring for
older patients.
DR LEE GUO ZHANGMedical Offi cer, Internal Medicine
Singapore General Hospital
Dr Lee Guo Zhang chose
to join the SingHealth
Residency Program and
in just four months he has
been thoroughly inspired.
Stirring the Passion of Junior Doct rs
The fi rst batch of residents started the program in May 2010.
The program offers structured postgraduate education for all medical school graduates based on established standards advised by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education International (ACGME-I) that can be completed within 3-5 years.
SingHealth residency programs include a Transitional Year and medical specialties in Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Pathology, Pediatrics, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and others. We are also the participating site for Preventive Medicine and Psychiatry.
SingHealth is the largest sponsoring institution (SI) for the Residency Program in Singapore.
www.singhealth.com.sg/SingHealthResidency
SINGHEALTH RESIDENCY
SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to EmpowerSpSpecial
22
Dr Tan Teng Hong is an expert
in treating children with heart
diseases. But up until last
year, when confronted with a set of
fi nancial fi gures he admits he was
sometimes lost.
“I would say OK, it looks alright, and
sign my name,” said Dr Tan, 41, a senior
consultant of cardiology services at the
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s
department of Paediatric Subspecialties.
“I realise I was not formally trained in
this area.”
Enter the SingHealth-SMU Post Graduate
Diploma in Healthcare Management and
Leadership course.
Dr Tan was nominated by his boss to
join the pioneer batch of a class of 35
comprising not only clinicians but also
nursing managers and allied health
professionals from various hospitals
and healthcare institutions in Singapore,
including heads of department and
deputy directors.
For nine months, these healthcare
experts met for business classes on
Fridays and Saturdays every other week
at the SMU. They absorbed lectures
conducted by experts from the SingHealth
Academy, the dedicated Healthcare
education arm of SingHealth, and the
Singapore Management University’s
Offi ce of Executive Education.
Course highlights for Dr Tan include
learning how to understand a fi nancial
statement – “in one exercise we had
to critique a proposal that involved a
fi nancial statement” – hearing from
media experts like Straits Times veteran
health correspondent Salma Khalik on
how to deal with the media, and hearing
from SingHealth GCEO Prof Tan Ser Kiat
on ethical issues.
Networking is another plus. He got to
study with leaders from other institutions,
and hobnob with movers and shakers like
Prof Tan during tea breaks.
“Before, I would never had the chance
to discuss ethics with Prof Tan. The
course gave us a lot of opportunities,”
said Dr Tan.
He has also made fi rm friends,
going on a recent holiday to Hokkaido
The SingHealth-SMU Post Graduate Diploma in Healthcare Management and Leadership
prepares doctors to be leaders too.
DR TAN TENG HONGSenior Consultant, Paediatric Cardiology
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
with his family and the families of two
other classmates.
Dr Tan graduated top of his class, and
has strongly recommended his peers and
juniors to go for it.
Said Dr Tan: “It has opened up my mind.
From reading only clinical journals
before, I fi nd myself reading business
magazines like The Economist.”
The fi rst intake of students was in 2009.
It is a customised programme aimed to provide clinicians and healthcare professionals with business knowledge and skills in healthcare management and business leadership.
The curriculum covers subjects such as Global Healthcare Landscape, Strategy, Customer Value Delivery, Financial Management, People Management, and Ethics & Governance.
The course is covered in 160-180 hours.
SINGHEALTH-SMU POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
SPECIAL FEATURE: Educate to Empower SpSpecial
23
I t is not often that university
students get a chance to enjoy
regular lunch meetings with their
Dean and forge a path that others
will follow. But that is what the
pioneering class of the Duke-NUS
Graduate Medical School have done:
Blaze a trail.
Mr Vincent Tay, who received
his bachelor’s degree in
Pharmacy from NUS, said it best:
“As the pioneer class, the greatest
opportunity that I took up was in
having a clean slate to build new
possibilities. As the school builds up
a comprehensive list of programs
for the students, I believe our class
had gone on to explore uncharted
territories locally and overseas.“
What they have collectively built up,
with support from the management
and academic staff, is a collaborative
culture where they are free to think,
speak up and take action.
Even though the school was brand
new with no track record, they were
drawn to its unique educational
model. Ms Pamela E-Wei Gopal
entered with a Masters in Biomedical
Engineering from NTU and will be
graduating along with her peers next
year. She said, “I was excited about
studying in a school that combines
the best of both the American and
Singapore education systems.”
Students also relish the opportunity
to dedicate their third year in the
school to research. Ms Karen Nadua
who hails from the Philippines and
has a Bachelor’s degree in Life
Sciences from NUS agrees: “the
unique education curriculum had
improved my critical thinking and
presentation skills.”
Some of the other fi rsts the cohort
have experienced include atypical
classes which consist not of top-
down lectures but group learning
sessions where they solve challenges
as a team, providing feedback to
help shape the school’s curriculum,
seeding events like the inaugural
Duke-NUS Vertical Challenge
which are set to become part of the
university’s tradition and provide
humanitarian aid.
Mr Chia Ghim Song, who holds
a Masters degree in Electrical
& Computer Engineering from
Cornell, took part in one such project.
The medical student who is also a
father of 1, helped organise a camp
for the children of cancer patients.
Said Mr Chia, on Camp Simba, which
was a joint project organised by
students from Duke-NUS and the
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine:
“After interacting with the children
and bonding with them, it made me
realise that grave and debilitating
illnesses such as cancer not only
impact the patient alone but also
the caregivers and their immediate
loved ones. This is something I will
bear in mind as I progress in my
medical training.”
The pioneer batch from Singapore’s fi rst Postgraduate medical school refl ect on how
they helped to shape the school’s culture.
Since 2007, Duke-NUS offers a medical training program for degree holders based on Duke University School of Medicine’s model of education.
The construction of the new 11-storey Duke-NUS building, situated within our SGH campus, was completed in 2009.
The majority of Duke-NUS’ local faculty comprises SingHealth’s physicians, and SingHealth’s senior executives play an active role in the school at all levels.
In this 4-year course, students dedicate an entire year to independent study and research projects.The program aims to produce highly trained clinician-scientists: specialist medical professionals whose expertise is also based on medical and clinical research. Students are actively engaged in learning through TeamLEAD sessions, that assesses them both individually and as a team, designed to help students become self-directed learners
The fi rst batch of Duke-NUS medical students will graduate in May 2011.
It is Singapore’s only tie-up with an American University to start a medical school.
www.duke-nus.edu.sg
DUKE-NUS GRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL SINGAPORE
(DUKE-NUS)
(L-R): Pamela E-Wei Gopal,
Chia Ghim Song, Karen Nadua,
Vincent Tay
Students, Pioneer batch, Duke-
NUS Graduate Medical School
SpSpecial
24
3D WAY FINDING KIOSK AT CGHInnovators: Changi General Hospital with G Element Pte Ltd
What it is:
The kiosk allows patients
to fi nd their way around the
hospital through intuitive and
easily recognisable interfaces.
How it helps:
With the objective of helping patients
fi nd their clinics and wards easily,
the team at CGH set out to develop
a 3D-way fi nding system using
real-world textures to provide an
interactive and easily recognisable
view of the hospital interior.
Available in the four offi cial
languages, the kiosk also provides
wheelchair access routes and
information on doctors for the
patients. A visitor to CGH can now
explore the hospital virtually.
It is also harder to get lost in the
hospital thanks to the carefully
designed interface brought about
through invaluable feedback from the
hospital based on interaction with
patients and visitors on the ground.
You can download the 3D way-
fi nder app for iPad and iPhone from
http://m.conveno.com/?v=cgh
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS SYSTEM (RAS)Innovators: Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, SGH
What it is:
The electronic system allows doctors
to target and treat specifi c areas of
the body suffering from Rheumatoid
Arthritis. It does so by enabling fast
and precise data entry to derive useful
indices such as the Disease Activity
Index (DAS28), Clinical Disease
Activity Index (CDAI) and Simplifi ed
Disease Activity Index (SDAI).
How it helps:
Before the RAS, doctors were
only able to derive the DAS28 after
complex calculations that took up a
fair bit of their time. Those precious
minutes are now saved with the use
of the RAS.
Using the new system, clinicians can
now calculate the score of DAS28,
SDAI and CDAI rapidly and precisely.
Patients can be easily registered
and their date edited quickly and
effectively, using illustrated charts
to treat target areas and improving
patient care.
Patients’ results can also
be printed out and shared
with their loved ones to chart
their progress and encourage
family involvement.
E-LEARNING FOR SUNRISE CLINICAL MANAGER 5.0Innovators: Department of Cardiology, NHCS
What it is:
The interactive e-learning platform
allows clinicians to be trained and
re-trained on how to effectively use
the Sunrise Clinical Manager (SCM),
an electronic health management
system that was implemented in
SingHealth institutions as part of
the Mission for Improving Clinical
Outcomes (MICO) initiative, outside
of a classroom setting.
How it helps:
Clinicians can now relearn at their
own pace to acquire the knowledge
in using the SCM. With the
e-learning platform being available
outside of the classroom setting,
training time, costs and valuable
resources can also be saved.
The interactive e-learning
provides hands-on training
on a simulated SCM interface.
Clinicians new to the SCM can also
access the module in a step-by-step
order, ensuring that they do not
miss the core modules when
learning the application.
Whether it be doctors new to
the system or those who want a
refresher course, this innovation
enables learning to be done at an
easier and more convenient pace.
INNOVATIONSiTAG
The Innovative Technology Application Group (iTAG) helps to
materialise innovative technology in SingHealth. From making our
work simpler to improving the way our patients are taken care of,
the sky’s the limit for creative minds at SingHealth. Here’s a look
at a few innovations that made a difference:
To fi nd out more, send an email to
Slme + Spotlight
25
1 noble profession
that we
L VEand ADMIRE!
How does it feel to be winningthe award?“I feel simply elated! It’s one of the
recognition that came as a surprise.
I have never dreamed that a nurse
would have been nominated for this
glamorous award. This recognition has
also affi rmed my aspirations to fulfi ll
my responsibilities in and contribute
to the nursing profession to the best
of my abilities.”
What was it like being in a glamour shot?Being shot that way was a great
experience for me. For all the awards
that I have received, I’ve always worn my
uniform and jacket. I was like Cinderella
– someone who is being transformed in
less than 30 minutes.”
How did your colleagues react to seeing you in the magazine?My colleagues were very surprised and
excited to see me dressed up in that
manner. They could not recognise me
until I spoke. One of the doctors even
tried calling my name from behind to
see if I would respond.
Catch the full interview with Ms Ng on the SingHealth Facebook!
Right: Elaine got glammed up for her
special feature in the August issue of
Women’s Weekly.
Nursing GreatnessThe noble profession of nursing turns up the glam as Elaine Ng, Assistant Director of Nursing at CGH
win the Singapore Women’s Weekly’s Great Women of Our Time Award in the Health/Sport/Wellness
Category! me+SH fi nds out her reactions.
With a superstar cast, a hero-minister and the full throttle of Harley Davidsons, this year’s SGH
Campus party was a blast. Here’s a breakdown of our 2010 Nurses’ Day celebrations!
Nurses’ Day: A Celebrati n by The Numbers
f
31,175 visits to the SingHealth
Facebook page during the month-
long festivities!
1,062 votes cast for the three
Nurses’ Day Video Contest fi nalists!
1,000 fl owers given out to our
nurses courtesy of the Rotary Club
of Queenstown!
200 photos of the main event
posted onto our facebook page!
50 awards, scholarships and prizes
given out on stage to outstanding nurses!
10 superheroes in costume entertained
our nurses at the main event!
2 proud winners of the 2010
President’s Award for Nurses! (Read
on for their interviews!)
4 pages dedicated to our lovely
nurses in a special Sunday Times
Supplement!
Slme + Spotlight
26
As a trainer, he is involved in developing
training programmes for nurses so
they can provide specialty care for
orthopaedic conditions.
The latest feather in his cap, however,
the President’s Award for Nurses, was
the most unexpected.
“After the interview with the judging
panel, I kept saying that there was no
hope for me,” recounted Mr Nidu. “Past
winners are very experienced nurses
who have done so much more. I stand
in their shadow. I have only been in
nursing for 14 years and no one at this
age has won it.”
To his utter shock, he did. He now goes
down in the history books as the youngest
winner of this prestigious award.
Mr Nidu’s desire to serve goes beyond
healthcare. In the past year, he has
been giving back to the community
as a grassroots leader. He organises
activities for children and teenagers
with behavioural issues.
He says his wife, a secondary school
teacher, sometimes asks him, “Why are
you so keen on serving? What is going
to stop you?”
“I tell her I don’t know! I cannot
explain!” said Mr Nidu.
He shares, however, that it was at
Riverside Secondary School where his
leadership skills fl ourished. “It was a
new school and everything had to be
started from scratch. I was the founding
Chairman of the school band, where I
played trombone and euphonium.”
In the next fi ve years, the go-getter
intends to get his PhD in nursing.
He said: “I want to build on the knowledge
of nursing, and hopefully inspire other
nurses to join the profession.”
Highest Hon ur for Our NursesThis year, SingHealth nurses took two of the three President’s
Award for Nurses, the highest state accolade for nurses. me+SH
fi nds out how they reacted when they received the news.
ENGAGING VETERANMS LIM SUH FEN, 52,
Assistant Director of
Nursing, National Heart
Centre Singapore
Ms Lim Suh
Fen was at the
SGH Bowyer block when
the missive came from her
bosses: We need to come and
see you now.
SingHealth Group Director of Nursing,
Associate Professor Lim Swee Hia, and
Medical Director of the National Heart
Centre Singapore, Associate Professor
Koh Tian Hai, met her at the Bowyer
Block where they handed her a letter.
The news for Ms Lim was short and
sweet: She had won a President’s
Award for Nurses.
“Really, they were so serious I thought
they were going to tell me I had lost my
job!” laughed Ms Lim.
It is a job she has been doing for
35 years.
Noteworthy accomplishments include
setting up the Singapore Heart Centre
Ambulatory Service and winning a string
of awards including the Excellent Service
Star Award in 2009 and a National Day
Commendation Award in 2005.
“This President’s award is the most
prestigious award I have received. I feel
very proud and honoured,” said Ms Lim.
Currently she is overseeing the planning,
reconfi guration of usage and workfl ow
designs of the new Heart Centre.
She is also leading a team of 65 nurses
and Administrative Staff at NHCS. While
hers is a high-level post, she continues to
attend to patients and is very hands-on.
“I try to be as engaged as possible,”
said Ms Lim. Even if she was
rushing off for a meeting,
she would stop in her
tracks to attend to small
matters which she feels
she has to put right.
“If I see a chair that is not
straightened, I will fi x it. If
I see that a counter is very
crowded, I will help out. If I see a
patient grumbling, I will attend to him,”
she said.
In one high-profi le instance of “being
engaged”, Ms Lim, together with
Associate Professor Koh Tian Hai,
persuaded the Health Minister Mr Khaw
Boon Wan to go through a coronary
angiogram to ascertain the extent of his
heart disease when initial tests hinted
at the condition.
She said: “I feel that if I don’t settle it
there and then, something will happen.
A high level of engagement can help
patient outcomes.”
GUNGHO TRAILBLAZERMR NIDU MARAN SHANMUGAM, 34,
Advanced Practice Nurse,
Singapore General Hospital
Mr Nidu Maran Shanmugam, is a
stand-out demographic amongst
nurses. As an Advanced Practice
Nurse (APN) his outstanding
contribution to nursing has already
won countless awards.
He was one of the fi rst orthopaedic
APN in Singapore, whose close rapport
with patients won him several “Service
with a Heart” awards and an EXSA
STAR award in 2005.
Mr Nidu, who is vice-chair of SGH’s
Nurse Research Council, has conducted
research studies which have won
several accolades at national and
international meetings.
BY SHER MAINE WONG
Slme + Spotlight
27
Lvme + Living
28
“Th e challenge now is to make sure we build something that has longevity, that continues to excite people with fr eshness in terms of how we grow our programmes, how we continue to connect to the biomedical and medical landscape,”
At home with...
For a man who grew up on a farm
in South Dakota, Patrick Casey
has gone the distance, literally
and in his professional life.
He is a world-renowned biomedical
researcher and is now Senior Vice-
Dean of Research at the Duke-NUS
Graduate Medical School in Singapore,
thousands of kilometres from where
he was born.
Dr Casey was parachuted in to
Singapore in 2005 from the renowned
Duke University Medical Centre in
the US where he was a senior staff
member, to help set up Singapore’s
second medical school, a collaboration
between the National University of
Singapore and Duke.
“This job is different. Every day in the
last fi ve years presents a new challenge
to get the institution off the ground,”
said the genial Dr Casey, whom
everyone in the offi ce calls “Pat”.
He is justifi ably proud of how
far the school has come in
a short time. Located within
the grounds of the Singapore General
Hospital, the impressive new 11-storey
building comes equipped with key
education and research facilities and
is home to a growing number of staff,
faculty and over 200 students.
The pioneer batch of students, who
all enter the school armed with a
university degree or more, graduate
next year.
Dr Casey, who talks fondly of the
days in 2005 when there were four
staff working from “not even interim,
but interim-interim facilities”, said:
“Essentially we have completed the
start-up period, we are almost a
mature organisation now!”
The school did well because, in Dr
Casey’s words, the management team
were strongly supported by both NUS
and Duke University.
“We had good governance models
but very few of our decisions were
second-guessed. Everytime we
needed something to happen, it
seemed like the board, stakeholders
and management would fi nd a way
to make it happen.”
Then there was how SingHealth
stepped up with what Dr Casey calls a
“groundswell” of support in providing
the right people to train the students.
“Our second year was when SingHealth
really came in. At that point, we had no
faculty. If SingHealth had not supported
us, SGH and the KK Women’s and
Children’s Hospital in particular, in
freeing up the doctors, (the school)
would have collapsed.”
His top priorities now? “We want to
make sure that the stakeholders feel
this investment has paid off.”
“The challenge now is to make
sure we build something that
has longevity, that continues
to excite people with freshness in terms
Dr Patrick CaseyDr Patrick Casey is one of the pioneers of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. He tells me+SH how the school has come so far so fast.
BY SHER MAINE WONG
Lvme + Living
29
into a taxi, dropping their daughter off
at the Chinese International School,
then getting off at their workplace.
Dr Casey heads up to the 11th fl oor
and Assistant Professor Wang to her
7th fl oor laboratory.
Said Dr Casey: “Up until
recently, before we started
work, you would fi nd us at
Bengawan Solo at the SGH Block 7 at
8am every morning, to have our kopi
and pastry breakfast. For 15 minutes,
we talk about how we’d deal with our
day.” Nowadays they patronise the newly-
opened cafe on the school premises.
With the children, the favourite family
activity is to go hiking in the parks at
least once every weekend. “We are an
outdoor family,” said Dr Casey.
His personal favourite are
the trails at MacRitchie
Reservoir because of the reservoir-
fronting boardwalks, and the treetop
walk, but the family have probably
traipsed along every hiking spot in
Singapore: Bukit Timah Hill, Lower
Pierce Reservoir, East Coast Park,
West Coast Park, Mount Faber, the
Botanic Gardens.
Typically, each hike of about 3 km to
4 km, lasts 1 to 2 hours.
“We check out the maps on the National
Parks Board website, see which are the
ones we haven’t tried and we map out
our route,” said Dr Casey.
Will he stay on in Singapore?
“A transition point for us is coming up,
when our son goes to college in 2012,”
he said. Depending on where Kyle, who
is now studying in the NUS High School,
decides to study, the family may have
to re-locate.
“We’ll want to be affi liated to Duke-NUS
in the long term, but whether our base
shifts back to the US in 2012, I couldn’t
answer yet.”
It’s clear, however, that Dr Casey would
be very pleased to stay on in Singapore
and continue his work at Duke-NUS.
“There could be many leadership
opportunities for me in the US. But none
of them would involve building something
from scratch.”
of how we grow our programs, how we
continue to connect to the biomedical
and medical landscape,” said Dr Casey.
“We also want to continue building an
institution that all the stakeholders feel
is adding value.”
Apart from administration, Dr Casey
is also spending time on his research
work which focuses on cancer biology.
He started a laboratory with his wife,
Assistant Professor Mei Wang, and had
recently started another laboratory of
his own.
“Being a researcher is critical to me. It
not only gives me credibility in that I am
still doing research myself but mostly
I still get a great deal of satisfaction
in fi nding new things and making
contributions on the research front,” said
Dr Casey. There is real passion behind
his words. When he fi rst decided to come
over with his family in 2005, he did not
expect to stay for more than three years.
But the thrill in watching the school
grow has proven to be addictive. Of
course, there were other perks.
At the time, coming here presented
Dr Casey’s entire family with an
opportunity: Dr Casey to start the school,
his Chinese clinician wife to go back to
doing research, and his two children to
embrace their Asian roots.
Said Dr Casey, on his 15-year-old son
Kyle and 7-year-old daughter Jodi:
“They were growing up like American
kids. I wanted them to grow up feeling
that they are a part of both American
and Chinese cultures.”
Now, not only are the two children
conversant in Chinese, Dr Casey says
that living in Singapore has been good
for the family.
A comfortable morning routine
involves Dr Casey and his wife hopping
At home with
Lvme + Living
30
1. Consumption of low GI foods
will release less insulin into the
blood stream since there is no
spike in blood sugar. Low GI
foods are best for most people
most of the time because they
are less infl ammatory and reduce
the risk of disease such as
coronary heart disease, obesity
and type-2 diabetes.
2. Since low GI foods do not
cause a spike in blood sugar, they
may be used to help people with
diabetes improve their blood sugar
level. However, a person with
diabetes will still need to consider
the total amount of carbohydrate
they consume per day.
3. Some studies have shown
that low GI foods have a higher
satiety value, keeping hunger at
bay for longer. Choosing low GI
foods may be useful in a weight
reduction diet.
Wise up onsuga s and starch
– the GI Fact rWhat is GI? How do we apply it in our diet? Do we really have to avoid high GI food? Health Xchange provides the answers.
Source: Dietician Service, SingHealth Polyclinics
HIGH GLYCAEMIC INDEX
LOW TO INTERMEDIATE GLYCAEMIC INDEX• Pita bread• Basmati rice• Pastas • Noodles • Sweet potato• Yam • Peas and beans
• White bread• Wholemeal bread• French loaf• Rice crackers• Jasmine rice
• Glutinous rice• Potato• Tapioca • Cornfl akes• Rice porridge• Watermelon
No, you can have a smaller portion of the high GI food or team it
up with a very low GI food like rice porridge with beans.
High GI foods may be useful for people with diabetes during a
hypoglycaemic episode. A high GI food will raise blood sugar
level faster.
In sports nutrition, high GI foods provide a quick supply of
glucose for immediate use and immediately after exercise. A high GI food may maximise
glycogen storage for future use. Both low and high GI foods are being used to help
athletes achieve peak performances.
SHOULD YOU AVOID HIGH GI FOODS ENTIRELY?
ARE LOW GI FOOD HEALTHIER THAN HIGH GI FOOD?
A food’s GI value was never meant to be the only standard by which it
is judged as fi t to eat. A lower GI value does not mean that food is a
healthier choice. A low GI food can be high in fat, for example potato
chips have a lower GI value (54) than potatoes baked without fat (85).
GI should be used within the context of a healthy, prudent diet.
The Glycaemic Index (GI) is a
numerical way of describing
how the carbohydrate in foods
infl uences blood sugar levels. It
ranks food based on how fast they
break down and release sugars
into a person’s bloodstream.
• Traditional wholegrain oats• Pearl barley• Muesli • Apple • Orange • Bananas
HealthXchange
ADVANTAGES OF LOW GI FOODS
Lvme + Living
31
which may affect the effi cacy of the
chemo drug. If she wants to take a
supplement, she may want to choose
a multivitamin with dosages not more
than 100% of Recommended Daily
Allowance (RDA).
Q: Is there any food she really needs to avoid? Some folks are saying avoid chicken,
mushroom and coconuts?A: Avoiding chicken could be a
Chinese medicine concept. There
are no evidence-based reports that
recommend not eating chicken. No
problem with eating mushroom and
coconut either.
She may do well to limit the intake
of oily foods as there are studies that
show that restricting oil / fat intake
reduces the risk of recurrence of the
cancer and increases survival and
success of treatment among breast
cancer patients undergoing therapy.
Q: Is it advisable to go for TCM and TCM medication like lingzhi
a few days before or after the chemo session?A: Taking lingzhi during chemotherapy
may increase the risk of bleeding.
After she has completed all cancer
therapy, she may take lingzhi as a
health supplement as it is known to
have anti-tumour effects.
Q: I was recommended manuka honey for the dry throat during
Nasopharyngeal Cancer (NPC) treatment. Recently, someone told me that Jarrah honey is equally good. Is this true?A: Honey has antibacterial and
antifungal properties that may help
in preventing infection. The high
osmolality, low pH and hydrogen
peroxide in honey contribute to this
antibacterial property. The difference
between Manuka and Jarrah honey
lies in the types of fl owers from
which the bee obtains nectar to make
honey. You may try both types to see
which is more helpful. Do not take
honey in excessive amount due to
the sugar content, especially if you
are diabetic.
Q: I was also told never to eat grilled and barbecued food, because it is carcinogenic. Is that true? Are there any other
foods that should be avoided?A: A ‘good’ diet would be one that
is balanced i.e. contains a good mix
of vegetables and meat, with no
overly sweet, salty and oily foods.
Preferred cooking methods would
be steaming, boiling and stir-frying
rather than deep frying, grilling,
or baking.
Subjecting animal protein to high
heat during deep-frying, grilling,
barbecuing, or baking will create
heterocyclic amines which are
carcinogenic. Minimise eating
such foods but do not be too
stringent on food choice during
cancer therapies.
My aunt is going for her chemotherapy
for her cancer very soon, and I want
to make sure she gets good nutrition
during her therapy,
Q: What kind of food, fruits and drinks can she consume during this period of time?A: During chemotherapy, encourage
her to eat well and not to worry too
much about restricting her diet to
‘healthy foods’. This will enable her
to maintain a good blood profi le
with adequate platelets, albumin,
neutrophils, and others that will
help her undergo her treatment with
minimal breaks in-between.
Q: Can she take supplements?A: Try to obtain vitamins like vitamin
C from whole foods like fruits. This
is to prevent overdose of vitamin C,
Cancer patients have special nutrition needs and concerns whilst
undergoing therapy, and beyond. Good nutrition is important at
every stage of cancer treatment and understanding this important
aspect of self-care well can help patients cope better during their
cancer treatment.
THE SPECIALIST:Chang Yok Ying,
Pharmacist, National Cancer Centre Singapore
CANCER WITHNUTR TI N
BATTLING
HealthXchangeLvme + Living
32
disability income plan. Some insurers
even allow the policyholders to
make multiple claims during his/her
lifetime, subject to policy provisions.
If the CI plan can complement your
H&S coverage to pay for expenses
incurred outside hospital and is able
to replace your income during this
period of hardship and also reduce
your fi nancial stress, this could be
the most appropriate and suitable
plan that you are seeking for.
But take note that every plan
comes with a price tag. Not
only do you need to assess
the cost and benefi ts of the plans,
you also need to fully understand the
features & medical terms involved.
To fi nd the most suitable coverage,
I suggest that you talk to an advisor
who has represents multiple insurers.
View full Questions and Answers to
these topics at: www.healthxchange.
com.sg/askthespecialist
Health Xchange’s ‘Ask The
Specialists’ Forum is an online
interactive forum where members
can send in questions to be
answered by specialists from across
the SingHealth Group.
The forum focuses on different
topics each month. Register for free
at www.Healthxchange.com.sg to get
alerted of new topics every month!
Upcoming Topics: All about skin problem
Health Disease 101
Are you feeling depressed?
you must enroll yourself in one of
the Medishield Integrated H&S
Plan that allows you to pay the
premium using your Medisave.
Currently, 5 life insurers carry this
product: NTUC Income, GE Life,
AIA, AVIVA and Prudential.
As for the loss of income, there are
2 ways to approach this need:
(1) Get yourself insured with a
Critical Illness
(CI) insurance
plan which pays
you the sum
assured in a lump
sum upon the
diagnosis of any
of the covered
illnesses (usually
30 illnesses)
(2) The other is
to be covered by a Disability Income
(DI) plan which pays you a monthly
income when you are totally unable
to work due to sickness or injury
While both approaches
have its pros and cons,
the claim for CI insurance plan is
more straightforward. A continuous
proof of disability is required for
My main concern is what coverage I
can get for both treatment cost and
any loss of income should I get a
serious problem like cancer or heart
attack/heart failure.
Q: What is the
best plan that I must sign up for to cover this? One which does not make me pay unnecessary premiums, yet has comprehensive cover for such problems, especially something like cancer, where the cost is apparently very high and borne for a long term?A: The best way to cover your
treatment cost is to be insured
adequately by a Hospitalisation &
Surgical (H&S) plan.
If you are a Singapore Citizen or PR,
Singapore offers universal healthcare coverage to
our citizens, with a fi nancing system anchored on
the twin philosophies of individual responsibility
and affordable healthcare for all. This is done
by implementing different tiers of protection –
subsidies, Medisave, Medishield, Eldershield, and a
whole host of private insurance options.
To clarify any confusions and concerns, HealthXchange partnered Financial
Alliance to answer some common queries.
THE SPECIALIST:Chew Hock BengChartered Financial Consultant, Chartered
Financial Underwriter, Financial Alliance Pte Ltd
FinancinHea thcare
g
“Take note that every plan comes with a price tag. Not only do you need to assess the cost and benefi ts of the plans, you also need to fully understand the features & medical terms involved.”
HealthXchange Lvme + Living
33
Don’t judge a book by its cover,
unless you’re talking about
Mohamed Basheer. With a
large build and a tall stature, you’d
think that he’s a private security
guard or martial arts powerhouse.
And right you would be - Basheer
is a Second Dan senior instructor
with the Singapore Tae Kwon Do
Academy. Under his tutelage is a
class of 20 enthusiastic students
with age ranging from as young as
6 years to spirited 40 year-olds.
But to the passionate volunteer
instructor of ten years, age is
never a problem when it comes
to Tae Kwon Do. In fact, the 30-year
veteran revealed that the masters in
the Academy are sprightly despite
their age.
“When you join, you join for life.
As you age, you may not be as fast
or as fl exible, but your power and
technique will always be there,”
said Basheer.
The Technical Offi cer at KKH’s
Biomedical Engineering Department
picked up Tae Kwon Do in secondary
school under the infl uence of legends
like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.
His love for Tae Kwon Do grew
more passionate over the
years, culminating in his
numerous participations
in competitions. His most
memorable win would be when he
had to take on an opponent similar in
stature – the heated battle resulted
in the two fi ghters tiring themselves
out, but Basheer emerged victorious
after proving his superior strength
and aggressiveness.
“Above all, Tae Kwon Do teaches me
discipline and self-control, and it is
these values that I hope to pass on
to my students,” he said.
“They have to know that martial
arts is not to show off, pick fi ghts
or to prove that you’re better than
someone else. Martial arts is
supposed to train you to be humble
and confi dent.”
The discipline extends beyond Tae
Kwon Do too. Basheer explains that in
his job at KKH, he has learnt to be at
peace and to give in to others without
causing confl ict.
Having worked in KKH for the past
ten years, his discipline has seemed,
and looks to continue, to guide
him towards many fulfi lling years
at the hospital.
MORE THAN JUST
FLYING KICKS AND PUNCHES
BY ARTHUR WONG
WHAT IS TAE KWON DO?Tae Kwon Do is the Korean Martial Art of Self –
Defense that incorporates the use of every limb of
the body to defend and counter-attack in a form of
unarmed combat to defend oneself.
It encompasses advance techniques
and applications of the arms and legs to
overpower an attacker with the use of
movement, blocks, strikes and kicks. However,
these are not the only attributes in Tae Kwon Do.
It also cultivates the spiritual aspect and the noble
moral principles of life. Developing strong virtues of
etiquette, modesty, self-control, perseverance and
an indomitable spirit.
To pick up Tae Kwon Do, simply visit the website
for the Singapore Tae Kwon Do Academy for a list
of available venues.
WATCH BASHEER IN ACTION!Basheer demonstrates an array of green
belt patterns and tells us about the different
kinds of stances in Tae Kwon Do at the SingHealth
Facebook page!
Do you have an interesting passion like Basheer?
We’d like to hear from you! Send us an email
telling us about you and your interest, and be
featured on me+SH!
f
Smme + Smiles
34
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Hrme + Horizon
36
Members of the SingHealth Group
GCEO’s Annual Staff Address straight to you!
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