“Research in Anaesthesiology has provided many opportunities for involvement in a wide range of research topics. The exposure to work alongside different research and healthcare team members has enriched my research experience, and also enabled deeper understanding of Anaesthesiology as a career. “
“With the help of MSF award, I am privileged to have the opportunity to participate in overseas conferences that allow me to present my project to a wide audience and receive constructive feedback from them to improve my work. “
Photo caption: Joseph received the best Oral Presentation Award from A/Prof Ruban Poopalaingam during ANAES ACP Academic Day 2017
“When I began working with A/Prof. Sophia Chew and A/Prof Ti Lian Kah as a 2nd year medical student, I had minimal research experience or knowledge. Thankfully, they were outstanding teachers who patiently mentored me through the process of formulating a research hypothesis, Institutional Review Board approval, collecting data, data analysis and manuscript writing. With their guidance, I identified the effect of multiple concurrent co-morbidities on the risk of acute kidney injury, ICU mortality and 1-year mortality amongst critically ill surgical patients. This novel research was presented in both local and overseas conferences, such as Euroanaesthesia 2017. As the saying goes: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” A/Prof Sophia Chew and A/Prof Ti Lian Kah excel as teachers because they teach skills rather than simply telling me what to do. The valuable skills they taught me enabled me to perform research in an entirely separate field, and with the help of my fellow research students, publish “The Use of Dispatcher Assistance in Improving the Quality of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Randomised Controlled Trial” in Resuscitation.
I am also immensely grateful for Singhealth’s sponsorship via the Singhealth Medical Student Talent Development award granted to A/Prof Sophia and I. As a student, I do not earn a financial income. Thus, Singhealth’s generous sponsorship of the project was very helpful to ensure that the results of the research could be shared with doctors all over the world, for the benefit of patients.
Finally, I am also grateful to Gerald, Sherlyn, Keith and Ann, fellow medical students and seniors whom I worked with through the course of the project. An African proverb goes “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together”. Truly, my research would not have been possible without every one of them contributing their hard work, so that we could succeed together. “
