Kang Mei Ling

Dr Kang Mei Ling
Head & Senior Consultant,
Department of Internal Medicine,
Singapore General Hospital

Dr Kang Mei Ling heads the Department of Internal Medicine, which is the biggest clinical department by patient numbers in Singapore General Hospital (SGH). She is also an Infectious Disease Physician and a clinical teacher who serves as faculty in the 3 medical schools in Singapore, and Singhealth Internal Medicine Residency Program. In addition, she also serves as Clinical Director in the Clinical Risk Management unit of Office of Patient Safety and Quality in SGH.

In these roles, she experiences and witnesses many instances of healthcare worker harassment and abuse; the adverse consequences on healthcare workers’ mental health and morale; and indirect harm to other patients arising from abuse. She was co-chair of the SGH Workgroup against abuse & Harassment of healthcare workers, and a member of the SingHealth anti-abuse committee, and provided inputs to MOH’s Tripartite Workgroup for the Prevention of Abuse and Harassment of Healthcare workers. She currently serves as Clinical Advisor to SGH’s Staff Protection Office.

Presentation Synopsis
HM 9 - It Takes a Village to Manage Abuse and Harassment in the Healthcare Ecosystem

Staff Protection and Duty of Care – Role of the Clinician

Putting patients and their needs first is an ethos many clinicians embrace, and resultantly, abusive behaviours by patients (and/ or their loved ones) are unrecognised by clinicians or tolerated, with wide-reaching consequences which may be unknown to the clinicians themselves. From personal experience ands stories, and from published literature, the speaker will share how a clinician might strike a balance between duty of care and ensuring staff and workplace safety; and make an argument that only when staff feels safe, that better and safer patient care can be delivered; and a more effective and efficient healthcare system for all.

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