A Medical Social Worker attending to a COVID-19 patient in an isolation room at NCID.
In FY2021, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) continued to focus its efforts on battling COVID-19, including tackling new waves of infections caused by the Delta and Omicron variants. Besides NCID’s contributions to Singapore’s COVID-19 response, it also worked at keeping the population safe from other infectious diseases.
PROVIDING PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT TO COVID-19 PATIENTS
Providing quality patient care requires a collective effort by the multidisciplinary team at NCID. Its Medical Social Workers (MSWs) have been counselling and supporting patients with psychological, social, and practical needs stemming from their medical conditions, or who were in isolation and had to stay away from their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. MSWs served as the ‘bridge’ between patients and their families and facilitated video calls. MSWs also acceded to the requests of family members, such as holding the hands of their loved ones in their final moments so that they would not feel alone.
During the Delta and Omicron waves, NCID provided care to many elderly patients. The MSWs supported their family members with care and discharge planning by linking them up with community resources for financial assistance.
An Infectious Disease doctor going through the chest X-Ray results with a patient during a consultation session.
LONG COVID CLINIC AT NCID
In November 2021, NCID set up the Long COVID Clinic as a hub for patients in Singapore suffering from the complex condition. The clinic accepts patient referrals from General Practitioners (GPs), polyclinics, and other public or private hospitals who have had persistent symptoms for four to eight weeks or longer since their acute infection. Its work aims to exclude other causes of the persistent symptoms as well as provide symptom relief. The clinic also conducts further assessments to determine if a subsequent referral to rehabilitation specialists for a graded exercise programme is required. Doctors will discuss with patients their fears and expectations, and provide reassurance and guidance to help pace their recovery.
SURVEILLANCE OF AMR AND RISK ASSESSMENT
To better support the health needs of residents across Singapore, the Antimicrobial Resistance Coordinating Office (AMRCO) in NCID piloted the Primary Care Antimicrobial Utilisation (AMU) initiative. AMU is a partnership with GPs to facilitate clinic-level monitoring of trending antibiotic usage, as well as baseline data-gathering for the assessment of future interventions.
AMU data from 29 sentinel GP clinics for the period of 2018 to 2019 were collated and analysed in FY2021. The findings indicated that the utilisation of first or second choice antibiotics (Access antibiotics) for empirical treatment met the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommendation of at least 60 per cent in 2019. This surveillance initiative will continue in FY2022 to include more GPs.
Attendees of a TB awareness talk at the AWWA Active Ageing Centre.
A/Prof Jeffery Cutter, Director, National TB Programme, and the host/moderator from SWCO, Ms Nabilah.
A Pharmacist utilising the smart shelves to dispense medicine at the outpatient clinic.
WORLD TUBERCULOSIS DAY
The tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate in Singapore has remained at a lower-moderate level over the past few years. To effectively manage the disease through preventive care, the National TB Programme in NCID engaged the community and public through two TB awareness talks held in conjunction with World TB Day 2022.
Conducted in collaboration with Sembawang West Constituency Office (SWCO) and AWWA, both talks educated the public on the symptoms of Active TB disease, and debunked common misconceptions surrounding TB. They also shed light on current treatment and management of both Latent TB infection and Active TB disease, as well as encouraged early screening for those who have been identified as close contacts of Active TB cases.
These public education and community engagement efforts served to get the public to take proactive steps to safeguard their health, and the health of those around them.
NCID PHARMACY SMART SHELVES
Leveraging on technology and digitisation, NCID has implemented Smart Shelves at its outpatient pharmacy as part of a pilot initiative to improve efficiency and service quality of pharmacy operations.
EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES WILL BE A RECURRENT CHALLENGE AND THERE IS A NEED TO BE PREPARED. NCID WILL CONTINUE OUR MISSION, KEEPING PACE WITH THE EVOLUTION OF MICROBES. WE WILL FURTHER STRENGTHEN OUR CONNECTIONS AND COLLABORATIONS WITH PARTNERS WITHIN THE REGION AND GLOBALLY TO MAINTAIN A STATE OF PREPAREDNESS, WHETHER FOR TACKLING SARS-COV-2 OR OTHER NOVEL PATHOGENS THAT MAY EMERGE.”
PROFESSOR LEO YEE SINEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES