MASTER'S MESSAGE

S R E Sayampanathan

Master (2016-2018)
Academy of Medicine, Singapore

19 October 2017

Dear Fellow Academicians

Recently, at the College of Surgeons Singapore Dinner (on 29 September 2017), Senior Minister of State for Health Mr Chee Hong Tat addressed the need to achieve a right mix of specialists, including larger numbers of doctors specialising in areas such as family medicine, internal medicine, geriatrics and palliative care, to meet Singapore’s long-term healthcare needs. He also highlighted the importance of training doctors who can lead and work in multidisciplinary teams across boundaries and settings and to provide integrated care for patients. This policy was reinforced during his message the following day at the Physician's Pledge Ceremony on 30 September 2017.

I am pleased to share that the Academy Deanery, with Council’s support, has been looking into the development of a structured non-specialist hospitalists training programme. Our aim for the programme is to help bolster and augment the generalist team, enabling hospitals to have better trained and appropriately qualified resources to provide well coordinated and seamless integrated inpatient care. This initiative is in alignment with MOH endeavour to address the complex issues challenging our medical manpower and training. We look forward to engage MOH on our proposed Hospital Medicine programme aimed at training non-specialist hospitalists.

A. ACADEMY DEANERY

(1) Academy's Merit Awards To NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Graduates

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate this year’s recipients of the Academy’s Merit Awards bestowed to outstanding students of Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS.

The Academy, in our commitment to education and training as well as continuing professional development, has been awarding outstanding students from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine starting as far back as 1978.

Please join me in congratulating the awardees of academic year 2016/2017 and our best wishes as they progress in their career as medical professionals.

(2) College of Clinician Educators

The College of Clinician Educators, the 13th College of Academy, held its Inaugural General Meeting on 15 September with much excitement and enthusiasm. I would like to congratulate the Interim College Office Bearers, dedicated teachers in educational theory and practice, for stepping up to lead and guide the College.

The Interim Office Bearers of the College are as follows:

The College hopes to bring together all specialists in public institutions and private sector interested in medical education to support the national medical education agenda. The College endeavours to achieve this through forming interest groups to engage stakeholders and create future collaboration opportunities for the College. The interest groups established are Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance, Assessment, Student and Resident well-being, Faculty Development and Scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL).

(3) Graduation of Inaugural Intake of Singapore’s Master of Health Professions Education Students

We witnessed the graduation of the first cohort of students from the 2015 intake of the Master of Health Professions Education – Singapore (MHPE-S) on 21 July at the Induction Comitia of the Academy, held in conjunction with the 51st Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine, at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

Among the 10 MPHE-S students who graduated that evening was Dr Raymond Goy who shared on the uniqueness and usefulness of the programme: “In the search of the optimal postgraduate training system for Singapore, our Education Mission has undergone much changes in the past 10 years. These developments have inspired many teachers and learners, but at the same time, alienated members of our medical community. The MHPE-S programme provided me and my fellow educators a solid foundation in which resident education, assessment and development initiatives are formulated based on evidence from medical education research. The programme gave us the steadfastness of our educational mission despite the changes of transition. It will allow us to develop a ‘uniquely Singaporean’ postgraduate system that at the same time, places us on the world map. The MHPE-S programme will also allow us to build a strong knitted community to bring our training system from good to great.”

Another graduate, Dr Victor Loh, said that the MHPE-S programme has given him the language and lenses to be more critical about pedagogical tools and programs of assessment. “It is both enlightening and sobering to realise that these may often, even with the best intentions, steer learning and learners in unintended directions. I am now more aware of the tensions between theory and practice: about where coherence exists between the two, and about where a glaring gap exists. I sense this is where knowledge creation needs to occur in medical education: how ideas may be best re-imagined to fit a given context of application.”

Congratulations to our graduates for successfully achieving their goals through persistence and commitment in their pursuit of knowledge:

Chan Meng Huey Jason
Huma Jaffar
Goy Wee Lip Raymond
Inderjeet Singh Rikhraj
Lee Meng Kam Richard
Lian Wen Quan Derrick
Loh Weng Keong Victor
Ong Hwee Kuan
Ooi Beng Suat Shirley
Toh Hong Chuen

B. OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL AFFAIRS (OPA)

(1) Medical Assessors

The Supreme Court has requested the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) to work with the professional bodies to nominate doctors across the specialties as Medical Assessor. The role of the Medical Assessor is primarily to help judges understand complex medical issues.

The Academy has provided to the Supreme Court, through the SMC, a list of 152 nominees for Medical Assessor across medical, surgical and dental specialties. The Academy has recommended for all AMS Council Members, College Presidents and Chapter Chairs to be nominated as Medical Assessor. In addition, the College Presidents and the Chapter/Section Chairs have submitted nominations of three senior doctors from their respective specialties and subspecialties.

Training will be provided by the Singapore Judicial College. Topics that will be covered during the training include an introduction to trial procedure, the role of a Medical Assessor, preparing for court attendance as a Medical Assessor, and an overview of the law of evidence and the law of medical negligence.

(2) Academy Engagement with Ministry of Health on Modified Montgomery Tests

In August, the Ministry informed the Academy that there are concerns from the medical community regarding possible application of Montgomery Test in civil medical negligence suits. The Court has indicated that it will give weight to any guidance promulgated by professional bodies as to the information that should be elicited from patients.

The Ministry suggested for the Academy and its Colleges and Chapters to develop and issue guidance to its members to shape practise and set standards. In addition, the guidelines could also be a useful point of reference for the Courts in future cases.

The Academy is currently in discussion with MOH to explore further on the formation of a taskforce to undertake the development of this guidelines and more information will be provided in due course.

C. CLOSING REMARKS

As the largest professional body of medical and dental specialists in Singapore, with an independent and collective voice, the Academy will continue its advocacy and advisory role by maintaining active engagement with the Ministry and other Government Agencies in various aspects to help support the national healthcare agenda. We thank you for the continued collaborative participation and shared support of our Fellow Academicians who are experts in their own respective fields.

Best Wishes

Dr S R E Sayampanathan
Master
Email: master@ams.edu.sg