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Defining tomorrow's medicine - SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress 2012

SingHealth and Duke-NUS' strong partnership in research and education notched another success with the opening of the 2nd SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress, attended by more than 2,500 multi-disciplinary medical, nursing, allied health and research professionals, academic scholars as well as overseas healthcare leaders. The event was graced by Guest of Honour, Minister for Health, Mr Gan Kim Yong.

The Congress is an important platform for ideas, innovation and discovery as the best healthcare minds come together to shape the future of medicine. The programme covered key subjects such as basic insights and clinical impact of cancer genomes, technological advances in healthcare industry, neuropsychiatric and geriatric syndromes in the elderly and multidisciplinary care for chronic diseases management. This year's congress had a strong focus on Academic Medicine with a diverse group of healthcare professionals sharing their clinical and research findings, skills and experience.

Professor Ivy Ng, Group Chief Executive Officer, SingHealth said: "Award-winning research abstracts presented at the last Congress have since proven their worth as relevant and clinically applicable, with some currently in development. I am confident this year's Congress will also serve as an incubator for ideas and discoveries as we find more innovative ways to deliver better care to our patients. Our partnership with Duke-NUS will enable our academic clinicians to further their aspirations in continually setting new standards of care."

Professor Ranga Krishnan, Dean of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School said: "The evolving healthcare environment has created opportunities for us to leverage deeper collaborations that integrate cutting-edge clinical and translational research. The Congress is a platform to showcase the best of this partnership. We are confident this strong collaborative spirit will help achieve our aim to boost Singapore's biomedical science landscape and strengthen our potential to develop new treatments and better outcomes that will benefit patients."

"I am heartened to note the strong focus on academic medicine by SingHealth and Duke-NUS in this Congress. Academic medicine involves the integration of clinical services, education and research. Many pioneering innovations elsewhere have taken place in academic medical centres involving partnerships between medical schools and teaching hospitals. I believe that this is key to elevating healthcare standards here," said Minister Gan.

A key highlight of this year's Congress is the presentation of an award recognising outstanding SingHealth and Duke-NUS educators from different healthcare professions for their contributions to education. Awards were conferred on the best staff from the Medical, Nursing, Allied Health and Research categories for the Outstanding Young Educator, Outstanding Creative Educator and Programme Innovation Awards. 12 winners were presented with the award. They were selected by a panel of judges comprising healthcare and educational leaders and faculty members, each experienced in their respective fields of expertise. Please refer to Annex A for profiles of winners.

Started in 2010, the SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress is a highly anticipated event that brings together various institutions across SingHealth, Duke-NUS, and around the region, sharing the latest medical development and scientific advances across the various disciplines. Pushing the frontiers of healthcare and biomedical sciences, the collaboration between SingHealth and Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore aims to boost the exchange of ideas and research findings among healthcare professionals in our pursuit of defining tomorrow's Medicine.

The theme for the bi-annual congress Defining Tomorrow's Medicine reflects the need for healthcare professionals to keep up with the complexity of today's health issues and continuously innovate the way healthcare is delivered. In line with this overarching theme, the two-day congress covered a wide range of research and educated-related topics through a series of plenary lectures, symposiums and specialty tracks. The presentations were delivered by a distinguished line-up of speakers including keynote speaker Professor Michael B. Kastan, Executive Director, Duke Cancer Institute who spoke on DNA Damage Responses: Bedside to Bench to Bedside.

SingHealth, Singapore's largest healthcare group, is committed to providing affordable and accessible quality healthcare to patients. Its 2 Hospitals, 5 National Specialty Centres and 9 polyclinics, backed by internationally qualified medical specialists and advanced diagnostic and treatment medical technology, offer a complete range of multi-disciplinary and integrated medical care. By pursuing excellence in Patient Care, Education and Research, SingHealth aims to be the trusted leader in healthcare for its patients, partners, staff and the community. For more information please visit: www.singhealth.com.sg.

Hospitals:

Singapore General Hospital and KK Women's and Children's Hospital

National Specialty Centres:

National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Dental Centre of Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore, National Neuroscience Institute, and Singapore National Eye Centre

SingHealth Polyclinics:

Bedok, Bukit Merah, Geylang, Marine Parade, Outram, Pasir Ris, Queenstown, Sengkang, and Tampines

The Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) was established in 2005 as a strategic collaboration between the Duke University School of Medicine, located in N. Carolina, USA and the National University of Singapore (NUS). Duke-NUS offers a graduate entry, 4-year M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) training programme based on the unique Duke model of education, with one year dedicated to independent study and research projects of a basic science or clinical nature. Duke-NUS also offers M.D/PhD and PhD programmes. As a player in Singapore's biomedical community, Duke-NUS has identified five Signature Research Programmes: Cancer & Stem Cell Biology, Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disorders, and Health Services and Systems Research. For more information, please visit www.duke-nus.edu.sg

Programme Innovation Awards

The Programme Innovation Award is a unique award dedicated to recognising an educational programme in SingHealth and Duke-NUS for its innovation effort that differs from the conventional practice among similar programmes. For this award, programme innovation refers to the creation or improvement of a curriculum or pedagogy with the novel integration of a new or existing learning tool/technology, to enhance the quality of teaching and learning.

1. i-Paddle

By A/Prof Darren Koh, Senior Consultant, Department of Anaesthesiology, Singapore General Hospital

• Previously, a faculty member would act as tour guide, leading medical students around the five anaesthesia sub-specialty locations. Now, the interactive capabilities of i-Paddle provide students with content rich information pertaining to activities, topics or knowledge needed in each location. The app helps them perform tasks, has real time connectivity, is able to centrally monitor and enhance student performance
• Implemented in 2009, i-Paddle is an interactive self-discovery and learning tool. It is a web-based program that is accessible on iPads, iPhones, any smartphones or mobile computer devices.
• i-Paddle features are packed with resources, medical info and instructions (learning outcomes and case studies) and students are assessed through quizzes

Outstanding Creative Educator Awards

The Outstanding Creative Educator Award recognises dedicated and progressive educators in SingHealth and Duke-NUS who demonstrate excellence in teaching by incorporating creative teaching methods into their curriculums. These educators integrate and use varied teaching methods to enhance the quality of learning experiences in SingHealth and/or Duke-NUS.

2. Dr Kevin Tan, 40

Consultant, Department of Neurology, National Neuroscience Institute

Years of Experience in teaching: SingHealth – 8 / Duke-NUS – 3

• Dr Tan devised the Game-Based Learning – "Who wants to be a Neurologist" Quiz – a creative and effective teaching method developed to address the issue that medical undergraduates often find the subject of neurology difficult and intimidating.
• The objective is to teach and demystify neurology using team-based quiz competition.
• Since 2007, Dr Tan and colleagues have been organising this quiz for students undergoing the Year 4 NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Neurology elective.
• Questions are structured to require a 2-step thinking process to arrive at the answer. The 1st step requires identifying the physical sign or making the diagnosis based on an image or video clip. The 2nd step involves relating it to well-known figures in history, sports or pop culture, often with a humorous slant. Students are divided into teams. Points are added or deducted based on correct or incorrect answers. After each question, the key neurology learning point underpinning the question is summarized.

Outstanding Young Educator Awards The Outstanding Young Educator Award recognises outstanding teaching potential among young educators (below the age of 40) in SingHealth and Duke-NUS. The educator will demonstrate dedication and commitment to excellence in educating the next generation of healthcare professionals.

3. Ms Chua Lee Kheng, 38

Nurse Educator, Nursing Development Unit, National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS)

Years of Experience in teaching: SingHealth – 11

• Demonstrates exceptional commitment beyond her call of duty, e.g. conducts additional tutorials for trainees at her own time.
• Went to Hanoi, Vietnam to teach nurses from the Vietnam National Heart Institute (VNHI) cardiovascular nursing techniques. The teaching trip to VNHI highlights National Heart Centre Singapore role as a leading national and regional referral centre for cardiovascular disease and a leading Centre dedicated to providing excellence in healthcare
• Conducts teaching sessions with National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre for the elderly. Other teaching activities include volunteering her services as trainer for the Specialist Team Singapore Volunteers Overseas with SIF
• Possesses strong communications skills – demonstrates ability to communicate with learners of different background/age including young students from Northlight School, healthcare professionals and adult learners from the Lion Befrienders.
• Conversant in English, Mandarin, Hokkien and Teochew
• Inspires and motivates nurses who show interest in clinical education. Many registered nurses have decided to pursue clinical education following her training

4. Mr Ow Yong Lai Meng, 36

Principal Medical Social Worker, Department of Medical Social Services, Singapore General Hospital

Years of Experience in teaching: SingHealth – 8 / Duke-NUS – 2

• Over the years, Lai Meng has helped refine the medical social work module that he teaches in NUS. He had also developed training materials on Depression and Emotional Management for HPB-MOE Teachers' Wellness programme.
• Lai Meng has also spoken and trained on 'Depression & Emotional Management: The Secret Language of Feelings', 'Breaking Bad News' and 'Basic Counseling Skills' for organisations such as Singapore Police Force, MOE, Tan Tock Seng Hospital etc
• With a keen interest in research, Lai Meng has spearheaded the research interest in the department. He has published and presented several papers, one of which is "Suicide and You. The College Mirror: A Publication of the College of Family Physicians Singapore
• He is dedicated and committed to education and is able to pique the interest of his students to inquire and improve.

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