In August 2018, this office was established in Medicine Academic Clinical Program (ACP) by Professor Chow Wan Cheng to educate healthcare professionals through the promotion of the humanities. The aim is to draw on the creative and intellectual strengths of diverse disciplines spanning philosophy, ethics, arts, popular culture, history, literature and religion. The humanities help us re-examine clinical care, education and research through different lenses to develop a deep and critical understanding of meaning, value and purpose. The new perspectives created have fostered close and meaningful relationships amongst doctors, patients and colleagues, enriching existing multi-disciplinary collaborations and encouraging the formation of new ones.
We have adopted a 4-pronged approach: communication, co-operation, content curation and community-building. The team has worked with existing partners such as the Residency Programs and Medical Schools to curate resources and courses. The ultimate goal is to build a community that learns and shares through experiences. We have already reached out on social media, curated a large collection of verse in our doctor-writers’ repository, raised thousands of dollars through concerts and art exhibitions for our disadvantaged patients, and supported clinical care with humanities content on inpatient iPads. There have also been collaborations with the National Gallery and Singapore Art Museum.
Join in our journey to connect sensitively with everyday healthcare experiences and reinvigorate the joy of caring by reminding ourselves of what inspired us to join this profession.
For all enquiries, kindly email us at medicalhumanities@singhealth.com.sg.
Dr Ong Eng Koon
Director, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACP Consultant, Division of Supportive and Palliative Care, NCCS
Dr Ong is a palliative care physician at the Division of Supportive and Palliative Care, National Cancer Centre Singapore. He has keen interests in medical education, professionalism, empathy and burnout. He stumbled onto the Medical Humanities while looking into ways to teach empathy and decrease physician burnout and conceptualised the Humanism Aspirations as a Propellor for Professional development in Palliative medicine Education (HAPPE) project in 2017, using literature to facilitate discussions on empathy and patient-centered care for junior doctors. He has not looked back since and is always excited to develop future projects in this field with like-minded friends both old and new.
Dr Ong’s professional profile can d here.
Dr David Teo Choon Liang
Member, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPConsultant, Department of Psychological Medicine, CGH
Member, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPResident Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, SGH
Dr Janet Ong has been working with the Advance Care Planning Team in SGH since 2015. Prior to that she had been working with an NPO in Hong Kong coordinating their outreach projects in Asia and personnel training. Engaging with people in need has always drawn her interest.
Ms Joanna Phone KoMember, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPSenior Staff Nurse (APN), Nursing Division, Department of Specialty Nursing, SGH
Joanna is an Advanced Practice nurse in Acute Care (Medical ICU). Her experiences in managing ICU patients include both ends of the spectrum- Aggressive and urgent interventions for the critically ill, as well as supportive and palliative approaches for dying patients and their loved ones.
Her latter role is where Medical Humanities comes alive and is ever relevant. Joanna actively facilitates the weekly meetings in ICU with the palliative medicine team, to provide holistic care and emotional support for patients in the medical ICU.
Joanna is also an SGH Scholar, graduating with a Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) at National University of Singapore and a Master in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Programme at University of Pennsylvania. She is passionate about training and mentoring junior staff in the MICU.
Dr Natalie Woong Liling
Member, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPConsultant, Department of Internal Medicine, SGH
Dr Natalie Woong is a consultant in the Department of Internal Medicine, Singapore General Hospital with subspecialty accreditation in Palliative Medicine. She is part of the Internal Medicine Supportive and Palliative Care Service, which hosts the medical student elective in medical humanities. She is also Program Director of the Advanced Internal Medicine Senior Residency.
She is interested in bringing the medical humanities into routine patient care and medical education.
A/Prof Warren Fong Member, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPSenior Consultant, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, SGH
Ms Nur Suhaila Binte Ishak
Team Lead, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPSenior Executive, Education, Division of Medicine and Medicine ACP
Ms Latashni D/O Gobi Nathan
Communications Lead, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPExecutive, Communications, Division of Medicine and Medicine ACP
Ms Naeemah Binte Mohamed Isahak
Medical Humanities, Medicine ACPAssociate Executive, Communications, Division of Medicine and Medicine ACP