Hear From Our Residents

“Clinical Faculty are heavily invested in our learning and protected training time is taken seriously, to ensure a balance is struck between service and training.”

I have had an incredible learning experience in the Emergency Medicine Residency Programme thus far. Clinical Faculty are heavily invested in our learning and protected training time is taken seriously, to ensure a balance is struck between service and training. The opportunity to rotate through many various disciplines has also provided me with a good foundation and the confidence to manage a wide variety of medical conditions and clinical presentations.

“It is heartening to have Senior Residents around who are always willing to teach and guide me.”

A well-rounded experience that places equal emphasis on the hard skills such as procedure and medical knowledge as well as the soft skills such as communication. As an Emergency Medicine Resident, I attend regular weekly teaching sessions comprising of didactic lectures, simulations and OSCEs sessions. It is heartening to have senior Residents around who are always willing to teach and guide me.

"Everyone in my department knows one another and is easily accessible. There is mutual respect between seniors and juniors as well as with the nurses and allied health staff."

I joined SingHealth Residency because of the opportunity to rotate to the various institutions under its umbrella. For example, I had the chance to rotate to MICU, CCU, SICU, Neuro ICU and Burns ICU, which gave me good exposure to how the various ICUs are run.

I have always wanted to do emergency medicine. It’s a fast-paced discipline where we get to rapidly assess and stabilise both medical and trauma patients, despite having only minimal information at the time of presentation. Every rotation is an opportunity to enhance my knowledge and skills in preparation to become an emergency physician.

Even though our job can be stressful at times, I am able to have the day off if I need to due to the flexible shift timings. I also make it a point to set aside one day a week for rest and relaxation before I return to work.

Everyone in my department knows one another and is easily accessible. There is mutual respect between seniors and juniors as well as with the nurses and allied health staff. We get to see our fellow Residents every week during EMCC teaching and it's like a reunion where all of us doing different rotations are gathered back. The Faculty are also very approachable and have a passion for teaching.

During one of my first resuscitation shifts after returning from National Service, Dr Evelyn Wong, who was the senior doctor in resuscitation, was very kind in guiding me during the shift. As the early part of the shift was not very busy, she went out to find suitable and interesting cases for me and I did three to four manipulation and reduction of shoulder dislocations in that shift alone.

As the day got busier, she still found time to bring me through several arrhythmias and acute myocardial infarctions that presented themselves when I was there. I was very impressed by her willingness to teach, amid controlled chaos, and her kind demeanour.

Team work is very important in my department. Once, I was on shift in the A&E resuscitation area when a middle-aged lady came in unconscious. The Registrar immediately attended to the patient and the Consultant also came in to help.

As venous access was difficult and patient was hypoglycaemic, the Consultant made a very rapid decision to insert an intraosseous line. Based on ECG changes, the patient was suspected to have had an overdose of tricyclic antidepressants.

Throughout this time, the experienced nurses continued with the intravenous cannulation and arranged for X-rays while I contacted the Medical Registrar on call. The great teamwork allowed for the condition of the patient to be rapidly stabilised. She was transported to the Medical ICU for further management.

"There are supportive Faculty here as well. They understand that academic achievement, though important, is not the only focus in life. My seniors are not only capable, but also passionate about their work, and always willing to extend a helping hand to juniors like us."

Emergency medicine requires a unique combination of hands-on skills and brainy reasoning, and I have not regretted choosing SingHealth for my emergency medicine training.

I have benefited from the rigorous training at the regional burns centre at SGH Burns Unit, as well as the KKH Children’s Emergency Department. I enjoyed the rotations through various specialties like anaesthesia, cardiology and critical care to gain the necessary experience and exposure to be a good emergency physician.

Being at the frontline, I appreciate the research efforts that go into things like, scoring systems for head trauma and pneumonia, as well as the latest insights on the management of bread and butter conditions such as acute pulmonary oedema.

It’s very gratifying when I know that I have made the right diagnosis and stabilised a patient’s condition before he continues his treatment in the ward. I also find it satisfying when I manage to apply evidence-based medicine to bring about improvement to my patients’ conditions.

There are supportive Faculty here as well. They understand that academic achievement, though important, is not the only focus in life. My seniors are not only capable, but also passionate about their work, and always willing to extend a helping hand to juniors like us.