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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Residency Program
• SingHealth Residency Program
• Faculty
Residency Program
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What is the Residency Program about?
The Residency Program is a US-styled post-graduate medical education where medical graduates undergo training in a supervised and organized way to ensure they become competent and excellent specialists.
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2.
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Why do we need to change the Graduate Medical Education (GME) system?
Although the current GME system has served the Singapore healthcare sector well, we need to constantly innovate and adopt the best practices in education in order to meet with evolving healthcare demands and ensure that future generations of clinicians are well-trained.
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Who recommended the Residency Program?
The Ministry of Health, Singapore, after discussions with the Specialists Accreditation Board (SAB), recommended the introduction of the Residency Program. This was in response to a high percentage of doctors leaving for private practice without undergoing any formalized training program.
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What are the differences between the current GME system and the Residency Program?
The Residency Program will be a structured training framework and education curriculum, based on established standards from the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The program is a rigorous system designed on a formative model for quality training. The learning process will be enhanced through the 6 core competencies.
Under the current system, medical officers will rotate from one posting to another and be responsible for their own training outcome. With the Residency Program, training will be more structured and sponsoring institutions will take ownership of the training outcome of the residents.
A key feature is in its evaluation methods – an ongoing monitoring system to assess residents’ skills, ensuring a continual review of the learning progresses. This differs from the current system, which utilizes a summative method where assessments accumulate in intermediate and final exams.
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5.
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What is ACGME? What is ACGME-International?
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) evaluates and accredits medical residency programs in the United States. The mission of the ACGME is to improve health care by assessing and advancing the quality of resident’s education through accreditation.
MOH has invited ACGME to assist us in the drive to improve the graduate medical education in Singapore. The collaboration between ACGME and MOH is known as ACGME-International (ACGME-I), and it is the first of its kind. ACGME-I will develop a set of standards for Singapore in the areas of curriculum development, assessment and teaching methods, data collection systems, professional development and training for program directors and program coordinators.
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6.
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What are the medical specialties offered under the Residency Program?
8 programs will be offered in year 2010 (Phase 1):
· Emergency Medicine
· Internal Medicine
· General Surgery
· Pathology
· Pediatrics
· Preventive Medicine
· Psychiatry
· Transitional Year
More medical specialties will be offered in subsequent phases.
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7.
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How long is the Residency Program?
Depending on the Residency Program you are enrolled in, the program can range from 3 to 5 years. For more information, please refer to details for each individual program.
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When will the Residency Program start?
The first batch of residents will undergo the program starting May 2010.
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9.
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I’m a M5 student. What will happen if I can’t get into any of the Residency Programs? Will I still be able to do the BST/AST track?
Currently, you will still be able to continue on the BST/AST track.
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SingHealth Residency Program
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Is the SingHealth Residency Program open to Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s Students?
The Residency Program is open to both NUS Yong Loo Lin (YLL) School of Medicine and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (GMS) graduates.
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How do I apply for the SingHealth Residency Program?
You will have to indicate your interest to join SingHealth Residency Program with MOHH. Please refer to MOHH website for more information on the application process.
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Does the SingHealth Residency Program accept foreign applicants?
Yes, we do accept applications from International Medical Graduates (who hold medical degrees that can be registered in Singapore).
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What will I get at the end of the Residency Program?
This is a work in progress. The certification of your training is currently being formulated by the Ministry* who is working with the ACGME and the Singapore Accreditation Board.
(*the Review Committee Specialist Accreditation Board, Joint Committee of Specialist Training and The Specialist Training Committee)
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5.
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What are the Residency Programs available at SingHealth?
· Emergency Medicine
· Internal Medicine
· General Surgery
· Pathology
· Pediatrics
· Transitional Year
We are the participating site for the Preventive Medicine and Psychiatry Residency Programs.
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Who do I contact if I have questions regarding applying for the Residency Program at SingHealth?
For general inquiries, please email your questions to residency@singhealth.com.sg |
Faculty
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What is the Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC)?
The GMEC exists to provide oversight and governance to all graduate medical education training programs under the Sponsoring Institution (SI), SingHealth. It monitors and provides advice on all aspects of residency education and ensures substantial compliance with the institutional, common program and specialty specific requirements of the ACGME-I. The SingHealth GMEC is chaired by the DIO and comprises members including Senior Management, Program Directors (PDs), peer-nominated residents, administrators and other members of the faculty.
The committee is responsible to establish and implement policies and procedures regarding the quality of education and the work environment for the residents in all programs, and to ensure proper distribution of institutional resources across the resident programs.
For a full list of GMEC membership, please click here.
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What is a Sponsoring Institution?
The Sponsoring Institution (SI) is the organization (or entity) that assumes the ultimate financial and academic responsibility for a program of Graduate Medical Education. The SI has the primary purpose of providing educational programs and health care services
Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) is the largest Sponsoring Institution for the Residency Program in Singapore.
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What are the roles and responsibilities of the Designated Institutional Official?
The Designated Institutional Official (DIO) has an overview of the educational, fiscal and administrative health of the SI’s GME activities. The DIO leads an organized administrative system that oversees all ACGME-I accredited programs, maintain both ACGME-I Institutional accreditation and Residency Programs’ accreditation.
With support from the GMEC, the DIO (who is also the chairperson of GMEC) establishes and implements policies and procedures regarding the quality of education and the work environment for the residents in all the programs.
Nonetheless, the DIO’s ultimate goal is to institutionalize an educational experience that would enable residents to obtain the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude to practice as competent physicians.
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What is the role of Associate Designated Institutional Official?
The Associate Designated Institutional Official (ADIO) is the designee of the DIO. In the DIO’s absence, the ADIO carries out the responsibilities and roles of the DIO. ADIOs in SingHealth are representations of the respective participating institutions at Changi General Hospital and KK Women’s & Children’s Hospital.
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What are the responsibilities of the Program Director?
Each Residency Program will have a Program Director (PD) that is responsible for all aspects of the Residency Program. The PD has to administer and maintain an educational environment conductive to educating residents in each of the competency area.
The PD will oversee the recruitment of residents and faculty, development of the curriculum with assistance from the faculty, and the assessment of the residents’ progress through the program. The PD will have to certify the competency of the graduates to practice independently.
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What are the responsibilities of the Associate Program Director?
The Associate Program Director (APD) is a faculty who assists the Program Director in the administration and clinical aspect of the training program. There may be more than one APD for each program.
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What is the main role of the Program Coordinator?
The Program Coordinator (PC) assists the PD in the daily administration of the Residency Program, especially to ensure that residents are informed and adhere to established educational and clinical practices, policies and procedures.
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What are the roles of the core faculty members?
Core faculty members are clinicians who work closely with the PD and APD on the development of program, with matters ranging from curriculum to administrative planning and implementation. Together with a fleet of physician faculty, they will lead the team to teach, supervise and mentor the residents. For quality teaching, ACGME-I had stipulated a ratio of 1 core faculty to 6 residents for programs.
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Who are the faculty members?
Please refer to the respective programs for more details.
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