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The Low Down on the Medicine ACP Office of Medical Humanities

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.

#TeamMedicalHumanities​ ​ ​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 ACP Consultant, Department of Psychological Medicine, CGH ​Dr Teo is a consultant psychiatrist with the Department of Psychological Medicine at Changi General Hospital. He currently heads CGH's Health Wellness Programme and Medical Humanities team. His subspecialty　interests are in youth mental health, psychosomatic medicine, and combining psychotherapy and medications in treatment. He also has a special interest in integrating the medical, spiritual 　aspects of care. He has published work on spirituality, religion, beliefs systems and suicide. Passionate about medical education, Dr Teo is a Clinical Assistant Professor with Duke-NUS Medical School; Clinical Senior Lecturer with the　NUS　Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine; and Clinical Core Faculty with the NHG National Psychiatry Residency Programme. He won the 2020 SingHealth Duke-NUS Medicine Academic Clinical Programme Senior Educator Award. He has collaborated with like-minded colleagues to develop inter-professional training programmes that incorporate film and narratives to promote reflective practice, and help clinicians understand and address their patients' values and spiritual concerns as part of whole person care. He hopes that these initiatives will help clinicians reconnect with the humanistic aspects of medicine, improve patient care, and enhance professional satisfaction to combat burnout. 　 Dr Teo's professional profile can be found here ​ Dr Janet Ong Kheng Hwee Member, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACP Resident 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 Ko Member, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACP Senior 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 ACP Consultant, 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 ACP Senior Consultant, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, SGH ​A/Prof Warren Fong is a Rheumatologist in the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, SGH. He is also Programme Director of the Rheumatology Senior Residency Programme in SingHealth. He has a keen interest in the professional identity formation and medical professionalism. He hopes to promote the humanistic practice of medicine through the medical humanities.
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#TeamMedACPMH

​	Ms Nur Suhaila Binte Ishak Team Lead, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACP Senior Executive, Education, Division of Medicine and Medicine ACP
​	​ Ms Latashni D/O Gobi Nathan Communications Lead, Medical Humanities, Medicine ACP Executive, Communications, Division of Medicine and Medicine ACP
​	​ Ms Naeemah Binte Mohamed Isahak Medical Humanities, Medicine ACP Associate Executive, Communications, Division of Medicine and Medicine ACP
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