Associate Professor Sunny Wong, Assistant Dean (Academic Medicine), LKCMedicine
LKCMEDICINE TO AWARD ITS OWN DEGREE FROM 2029
Students enrolling in Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) in 2024 will graduate with a medical degree awarded solely by NTU, unlike their seniors, whose degree certificates bear the names of NTU and Imperial College London. This marks the completion of LKCMedicine’s partnership with Imperial College six years from now, in 2028 as planned. Students who enrol this year or in 2023 and complete their five-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programme by 2028 will still receive the joint degree from both institutions. Set up in 2010, LCKMedicine was designed to meet Singapore’s growing healthcare needs. It welcomed its first batch of students in 2013 who graduated in 2018. To-date, four cohorts of medical doctors have graduated from LKCMedicine and are now contributing to Singapore’s healthcare sector. The fifth cohort enrolled in May this year.
LKCMEDICINE APPOINTS NEW ASSISTANT DEAN, ACADEMIC MEDICINE
Associate Professor Sunny Wong was appointed Assistant Dean, Academic Medicine, LKCMedicine, with effect from 1 May 2022. A/Prof Wong, who joined LKCMedicine in August 2021 as Associate Professor of Nutrition, Digestion and Metabolism, now assists the School’s Vice Dean (Research) to develop strategies and drive academic medicine initiatives with its primary clinical training partner, NHG. He also assists with the establishment of an Academy for Clinician Scientists and Innovation (ACSI) with NHG.
TRAINING MEDICAL AND NURSING STUDENTS TO BE NGEMR-READY
Healthcare students at NHG have been receiving progressive training on the use of the Next Generation Electronic Medical Record (NGEMR) system. As of 30 July 2022, some 1,157 final-year medical and nursing students from the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUSMedicine) had received collaborative training from NHG Cluster Pre-professional Education (PPE), Tan Tock Seng Hospital Pre-Professional Education Office (TTSH PPEO), and the National University Health System (NUHS).
Since June 2022, cluster PPE and TTSH PPEO have expanded training to include final-year medical students from LKCMedicine, NUSMedicine, and nursing students. NGEMR was implemented across all National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP) in May 2021 and at TTSH in July 2022.
NHG EDUCATION AND NHG COLLEGE COLLABORATE WITH LKCMEDICINE TO OFFER STACKABLE POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMES
In collaboration with LKCMedicine, stackable postgraduate healthcare specialisation programmes will be available to NHG healthcare professionals interested in pursuing postgraduate certificates leading to a diploma or a master’s degree. The first stackable postgraduate programme, leading to a Master of Palliative Care, is slated to launch in July 2024. The programme will be co-developed with the NHG Palliative Care Centre for Excellence in Research and Education (PalC).
Fourth-year medical students Mr Lim (second from left) and Mr Kwang (third from left) received the Best Peer Teacher Award from their tutors, Dr Clement Chia (extreme left) and Dr Ruth Chua (extreme right).
NHG Residency’s publicity poster on its expanded Common Curriculum ‘SOAR’.
LOTTE (LEARNING ORIENTED TEACHING IN TRANSDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION) LAUNCHED AT KTPH TO FOCUS ON TRANSDISCIPLINARY MEDICAL EDUCATION
Dr Clement Chia, Consultant, Department of General Surgery, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), initiated a Learning Oriented Teaching in Transdisciplinary Education (LOTTE) elective posting. The objective was to allow medical students to maximise their learning opportunities in two medical subspecialties, so as to better appreciate the benefits of working in a transdisciplinary collaborative environment. Launched in April 2021, the four-week programme saw students dividing their time equally between both of their subspecialties, attending to their rounds in the wards, clinics, and operating theatres, as well as conducting home visits.
NHG RESIDENCY EXPANDS ‘SOAR’
NHG Residency expanded its common curriculum domain‘SOAR’ to include three domain areas of managing Self, managing Others, And building Resilience. The Self-Care 101 module was introduced in April 2021 to create awareness on the need for self-care and the effects of burnout, as well as equip residents with self-care and coping strategies. The module also guides residents to recognise emotional red flags so as to know when and where to seek help. Pilot courses on workplace mental wellness, mindfulness practice, and self-compassion training for the healthcare community were introduced in collaboration with NHG College, Brahm Centre, and the Mindful Compassion Project.
DEVELOPING MENTAL RESILIENCE
NHG College continued to work closely with core faculty teams from TTSH and Woodlands Health (WH) to develop and conduct Workplace Mental Health (Basic) and SAFETALK Suicide Prevention Workshops. They are designed to train staff in identifying common mental health issues at the workplace, as well as administering mental health first aid. Five runs were conducted for some 90 peer supporters and HR practitioners across NHG.
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT AND ENHANCING THE ADOPTION OF DIGITAL LEARNING
NHG College delivered 49 runs of faculty development programmes for some 1,909 educators from NHG Education. Two new workshops were launched in FY2021 — ‘Learning Facilitation’ and ‘Basic Psychometrics for Health Professions Education’ — aimed at equipping NHG clinical educators with facilitation and assessment concepts. Additionally, educators learnt how to develop Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) through a series of virtual workshops and online lectures based on the four component instructional design model at the NHG Education Overseas Expert Programme (EOEP) with Professor Jeroen van Merrienboer.
The Workplace Mental Health (Basic) workshop completed a total of five runs in FY2021.
Participants of the NHG Education Overseas Expert Programme (EOEP) having a group discussion.