ithout effective teaching skills, medical knowledge gained over an individual’s career will just

stay within the person and not get passed on to the next generation of healthcare professionals. We have been teaching but does that mean our medical knowledge has been imparted effectively? With the rising demands of patients and evolving healthcare landscape competing for our faculty’s time, are we training the next generation of healthcare professionals efficiently? This is critical as the next generation of healthcare professionals will be taking care of our patients, with our family, friends and ourselves among them.

Improving patients’ lives has always been the main mission of Duke-NUS and SingHealth on our Academic Medicine journey. To ensure that medical knowledge is effectively passed on so as to benefit our patients, outstanding education must be a priority. It is imperative that our educators are equipped with essential teaching skills that best impart medical knowledge to the next generation. Our educational challenges are too complex for individuals to solve on their own. We require cohesive interprofessional healthcare teams to improve education practices together.

The Academic Medicine Education Institute (AM•EI) was established two years ago to build a community of passionate interprofessional healthcare educators – across medical, nursing, oral health, pharmacy and allied health, who not only educate, but improve the way we educate. We focus on developing all educators, advocating for them and providing interprofessional expertise to help our busy educators teach more efficiently. Our clinician educators that teach in AM•EI are your peers who are changing the environment to make it better for all educators.

Traditional education practices have to be reviewed to ensure that it suits the learning style of our new generation trainees. Teaching frameworks and best practices in education such as assessments and feedback guide our educators for more effective teaching. This includes mentoring and empowering aspiring educators to be part of the Academic Medicine education journey.

Three Committees in the AM•EI were set up with inter-professional educators from across SingHealth and Duke-NUS to ensure continuous improvement in the support and development of our educators – the Professional Development Committee, the Scholarship Committee and the Advocacy Committee. The Committees are charged to organise faculty development programmes, mentor educators in education scholarship and research, advocate and reward education excellence. If you have a passion for education, we invite you to be active in one of our committees.

With these, we are on a pivotal journey to transform healthcare education with educators by sharing expertise, embracing new approaches and building partnerships.

Everyone in education plays a role in moving healthcare forward and it can only get better when we advance education together as a community. Get involved and volunteer with AM•EI. Fulfill your passion for education to improve our patients’ lives.

Prof Robert Kamei / Assoc Prof Koo Wen HsinCo-Group Directors Academic Medicine Education Institute

Inspired to join us on this teaching journey? Drop us a note at

amei-info@duke-nus.edu.sg.

The role of an educator goes beyond teaching and mentoring students; it also includes imparting and sharing of knowledge with peers as we strive to enhance teaching for the next generation. By teaching well, we give our patients the best care. AM•EI appreciates and recognises the teaching contributions of the following educators who have truly exemplified the spirit of generativity by sharing knowledge with their peers

Special EditionAM•EI Anniversary

Why we need to teach effectively

In appreciation of our educators

Assoc Prof Sandy Cook Chief Pedagogy, AM•EI

Asst Prof Ha Tam Cam Assistant Professor, Duke-NUS

Assoc Prof Arpana Vidyarthi Director of Leadership Development, Duke-NUS

Prof Savithiri Puthucheary Visiting Professor, Duke-NUS

Ms Diana Goh Meng Wei Senior Educator, AM•EI

Dr Chan Hong Ngee Senior Principal Clinical Pharmacist, Pharmacy - Inpatient, SGH

Asst Prof Suzanne Goh Pei Lin Assistant Professor, Key Education Faculty, Duke-NUS

Ms Goh Soo Cheng Principal Medical Social Worker, Medical Social Services, SGH

Assoc Prof Lai Siang Hui Senior Consultant, Department of Pathology, SGH

Assoc Prof Lee Kheng Hock Head and Senior Consultant, Department of Family Medicine and Continuing Care, SGH

Adj Assoc Prof Mark Leong Kwok Fai Senior Consultant, Department of Emergency Medicine, SGH

Ms Rachelle Lim Hao Yu Senior Physiotherapist, Physiotherapy, SGH

Ms Joyce Lim Soo Ting Advanced Practice Nurse (SNC), Nursing Specialty Services, KKH

Assoc Prof Loo Chian Min Director, Undergraduate Education, Medicine ACP; Head and Senior Consultant, Department of Respiratory and CCM

Adj Asst Prof Preetha Madhukumar Senior Consultant, Division of Surgical Oncology, NCCS

Adj Asst Prof Matthew Ng Joo Ming Consultant, Department of Family Medicine and Continuing Care, SGH

Adj Assoc Prof Nigel Tan Choon Kiat Academic Vice Chair, Education, Neuroscience ACP; Senior Consultant, Department of Neurology and Education Director, NNI

Ms Tan Hui Li Advanced Practicing Nurse, Specialists Nursing Services, SGH

Adj Assoc Prof Wong Kok Seng Academic Vice Chair, Clinical Services and Improvement, Medicine ACP; Head and Senior Consultant Department of Internal Medicine, SGH

Adj Assoc Prof Yong Wei Sean Senior Consultant, Division of Surgical Oncology, NCCS

AM•EI Co-Group Directors’ Anniversary MessageA M • E I A n n u a l R e p o r t S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 4

Prof Pierce Chow Kai Hoe Senior Consultant, Department of Hepato-pancreato-biliary and Transplant Surgery, SGH

Prof Goh Siang Hiong Associate Designated Institutional Official (ADIO), CGH, SingHealth Residency; Senior Consultant, Emergency Medicine, CGH

Assoc Prof Koong Heng Nung Visiting Consultant, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, NHCS

Assoc Prof Lim Boon Leng Designated Institutional Official (DIO), SingHealth Residency; Senior Consultant, Department of Anaesthesiology, SGH

Assoc Prof T. Thirumoorthy Visiting Consultant, Department of Dermatology, SGH

AM•EI EducatorsAM•EI Education Grand Round Speakers

Wisdom is merely knowledge stored if it is not communicated effectively

Advocacy Committee (EIAC)The third and final committee, EIAC, is dedicated to advocating the interests and needs of educators across SingHealth and Duke-NUS. Associate Professor Tan Thiam Chye, Chairman of EIAC meets with fellow Committee members once a month to work on their causes.

“The function of the Advocacy Committee is to look deeper into what we can do for educators in SingHealth so that we can develop them further and ensure that their contributions are being recognised. The members of the Committee were very carefully selected to represent the SingHealth and Duke-NUS educators’ community. We have clinicians, nursing and allied health representatives so this diverse group can look at issues in a holistic manner,” he said.

Assoc Prof Tan added, “Today, advocacy and recognition of interprofessional education is very important especially for patient care because patients require different groups of healthcare workers to look after them. With more interprofessional learning that focuses on the patient, there will be more holistic care and greater collaborative outcomes.

Key Achievements:• Reviewed the annual AM • EI Golden

Apple Awards shortlisting processes and expansion of categories to recognise all levels of educators

• Drove the annual Faculty Development Needs Analysis

• Organised the Harvard Macy Alumni Gathering in conjunction with SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress 2014

The EIPDC is dedicated to crafting curricula to train educators. It develops key workshops unique to the education community’s needs. It also partners the Academic Medicine Research Institute (AMRI), a Duke-NUS and SingHealth collaboration that provides scientific support for clinician investigators and scientists.

Associate Professor Sandy Cook, Chief of Pedagogy of AM•EI who oversees the three Committees, shared, “The EIPDC looks at the core competencies of a good health profession educator, so we partner the other two Committees and AMRI to craft a rich and diverse curriculum to develop our faculty to be excellent educators. The ongoing AM•EI Education Grand Rounds are available as a rich platform for sharing expertise in training and innovation”

Assistant Professor Ha Tam Cam, Chairman of EIPDC, elaborated, “The EIPDC is focusing on the Academy of Medical Educators (AoME) key competencies,

producing a broad spectrum of workshops that covers them and making them easy to access. There is also a structured programme evaluation for anyone teaching within AM•EI so that they can get feedback and recognition for their contributions. Our goal is to create many opportunities for our faculty to share and give back to the community.”

Key Achievements:• Developed a coherent curriculum and

roadmap with key competency courses for educators across all levels

• Residents as Future Teachers (RaFT) Programme – in partnership with SingHealth Residency

• Essentials in Clinical Education – three-day workshop facilitated by inter-professional educators

• Education symposiums for the SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress 2014

• Programme / curriculum review consultations

AM•EI ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION

What is the Education Innovation Grant? The AM•EI Education Innovation Grant promotes education research by supporting sustainable measurable projects that focus on innovative curricular programmes which can be developed and implemented to benefit large groups of faculty and learners.

Why do we need this Grant? To provide additional support for educators to pursue education research projects and methodologies with measurable outcomes.

What scholarly work or projects does the Grant support? Projects focusing on curricular programmes which can be implemented, measured and have their outcomes published in peer-reviewed journal articles. Priority will also be given to sustainable projects which can be further developed to benefit a wider community of learners for increased healthcare standards.

Who are eligible to apply for the Grant? AM•EI members. Healthcare professionals who are interested to pursue education research projects are encouraged to join the AM•EI as members.

Apply nowScan the QR code or visit

https://www.academic-medicine.edu.sg/amei/

The AM•EI Education Innovation Grant

Professional Development Committee (EIPDC)

The second committee, EISC, is dedicated to build and enhance educational research, evaluation, publication of research, peer-reviewed scholarly work and evidence-based practice.

Prof Cook is the Chairman of the EISC and highlights that it has raised awareness and the value of healthcare education with skills and tools to support healthcare education. “The Scholarship Committee has catalysed communication across various disciplines in a way that’s never happened before,” she said.

The Committee collaborates with AMRI to refine curriculum and addresses the competency of Educational Research and Evidence-based Practice with statisticians

and researchers who provide clinical research. We want to tap into their expertise for research methodology and statistical analyses so that anyone who is interested in doing educational research has resources to support them. There is also an Education Innovation Grant for educators who need additional funding for their scholarly projects.

Key Achievements:• Established the Education Innovation

Grant to support educators in education research besides reviewing and awarding grants

• Mentoring programme for the usage of the Educator’s Portfolio which may aid the career progression of educators along an academic track within Duke-NUS

Scholarship Committee (EISC)

Changing the way we educate

Core Values for Health

Professions Educators

Design and Planning of

Learning Activities

Teaching and Supporting Learners

Educational Management and

Leadership

Educational Research and

Evidence-based Practice

Assessment and Feedback to

Learners

To support the efforts of AM•EI in nurturing the next generation of healthcare professionals, three complementary Committees have been established. With representatives from the inter-professional community of educators in SingHealth, the Committees work in synergy to develop faculty as educators and foster an effective teaching environment

The Education Innovation Grant was established to nurture the growth of sustainable methodologies to enhance education for healthcare excellence

Competency Framework for Educators (based on Academy of Medical Education, UK)

Associate Professor Tan Thiam Chye,

Chairman of EIAC

Assistant Professor Ha Tam Cam, Chairman of EIPDC,

Associate Professor Sandy Cook, Chief Pedagogy, AM•EI and Chairman of EISC

AM•EI ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION

Key achievements in

An accolade for educatorsEducators are instrumental in our Academic Medicine journey. They not only teach;

they guide, support and promote the training and career development of others in nurturing the next generation. To sustain the future of healthcare, it is important that

we recognise educators who have developed and inspired learners, helping healthcare professionals make the connection to their ultimate role of elevating patient care.

The AM•EI Golden Apple Award is annually conferred to educators across all healthcare professions including medical, nursing, allied health, research and administration in SingHealth and Duke-NUS in recognition of their contributions to advancing healthcare education. AM•EI acknowledges the innovation of passionate educators who foster the culture and environment for education and scholarly pursuits, not only the personal career achievements of the nominees.

Education in SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress 2014Held biennially, the 3rd SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress took place on 5 and 6 September 2014 at Academia. The 2014 Congress placed a greateremphasis on education as the programme boasted four education symposiums over the two-day Congress. These include education research and residency sessions as well as a presentation by AM•EI Fellows on their educational experience and education innovation ideas.

The theme of education was brought into sharper focus with the keynote lecture by well-known thought leader in medical education Professor Elizabeth G. Armstrong, creator and director of the Harvard Macy Institute, entitled “Nurturing Innovation through Education in the Academic Medical Centre”. At the end of the Congress, AM•EI also hosted the inaugural SingHealth Harvard Macy Institute Alumni Reunion for Professor Armstrong and alumni in SingHealth and Duke-NUS.

Key Events/

Initiatives AM•EI Fellows Programme

The AM•EI Fellows Programme is an educational fellowship initiative that brings together a core community of experienced interprofessional educators to further develop their teaching skills. The train-the-trainer programme taps on the principle of Generativity – sharing knowledge to nurture the next generation.

With the successful completion of the year-long training of 37 Pioneer Fellows, a “Pioneer Fellows Showcase” was held in February 2014. The Pioneer Fellows have since started teaching in the educational workshops and the AM•EI Education Grand Rounds. Of special note were a series of workshops, ‘Essentials in Clinical Education’, in March 2014 organised by six Pioneer Fellows for clinician educators interested in medical pedagogy.

AM•EI welcomed its second intake of 24 educators from ACPs, nursing and allied health groups in March 2014.

AM•EI Fellowship in Team-Based Learning (FTBL) ProgrammeDeveloped and taught by leading faculty from Duke-NUS, the AM•EI Fellowship in Team-Based Learning (FTBL) Programme is a five-day programme that aims at equipping educators with the tools and skills to make use of innovative team-based learning techniques in their teaching.

Now in its fourth run, the programme has been extended to institutions in Singapore, such as the Ministry of Education, as well as overseas, such as the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College in Tanzania.

The run in April 2014 saw more than 40 overseas and local participants attending the programme. Participants included healthcare educators, school teachers and pharmaceutical representatives from various Asian countries.

AM•EI Education Innovation GrantThe AM•EI Education Innovation Grant encourages Education Research by supporting sustainable projects that focus on innovative curricular programmes which can be developed and implemented to benefit large groups of faculty and learners.

The Grant aims to encourage innovative methodologies such as curricular programmes to enhance learning experience and produce educational outcomes that can be tracked and measured. The awarded projects are expected to be able to produce measurable outcomes that can be published in peer-reviewed journal articles, thus contributing to academic impact.

The 2013 Grant was awarded to three teams and the team projects are expected to be completed within the next two years.

2013/2014

Eight awards were presented this year as we honour our outstanding educators

2429TRAINING PLACES

OFFERED

TOTAL OF

1678MEMBERS

78Faculty Development

Workshops 1433Faculty Development

workshop participants

877Education Grand Round participants

29Education Grand R

ounds

OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR AWARDSRecognises outstanding teaching potentials among educators in SingHealth and Duke-NUS across the various healthcare professions.

Medical Dr Sonali Prashant Chonkar Senior Staff Registrar, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, KK Women’s and Children’s HospitalNursing Ms Aline Teh Hooi Ming Senior Nurse Clinician, Nursing, Singapore General HospitalAllied Health Dr Catherine Cox Acting Head of Service, Senior Psychologist Psychology Service, KK Women’s and Children’s HospitalAdministration Mr Michael Chong Kum Fatt Assistant Director, Finance, Singapore General Hospital

OUTSTANDING YOUNG EDUCATOR AWARDSRecognises outstanding teaching potential among young educators (age 39 and below) in SingHealth and Duke-NUS across the various healthcare professions.

Medical Dr Jason Chan Meng Huey Family Physician, SingHealth Polyclinics (Geylang)Nursing Ms Jumaiah Binte Jumari Nurse Educator, SingHealth Alice Lee Institute of Advanced Nursing, Singapore General HospitalAllied Health Ms Rachelle Lim Hao Yu Senior Physiotherapist, Physiotherapy, Singapore General Hospital

PROGRAMME INNOVATION AWARDRecognises educational programmes in SingHealth and Duke-NUS for their innovation effort (that differs from the conventional practice among similar programmes).

Clinical Skills Training for Medical Social Workers (MSWs)Department of Medical Social Services, Singapore General Hospital

Programme Developers:• Ms Esther Lim | Head and Senior Manager• Ms Chew Li Ling | Principal Medical Social Worker• Ms Goh Soo Cheng | Principal Medical Social Worker• Ms Sherylene Heah | Senior Medical Social Worker• Ms Olivia Khoo | Principal Medical Social Worker• Mr Ow Yong Lai Meng | Principal Medical Social Worker

AM•EI ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION

Join AM•EI Seek AM•EI Contribute to AM•EI

An enriched partnership in education

Tthe NDCS ‘One-Minute Preceptor in Clinical Teaching’ workshop is the result of collaboration with AM•EI’s educational consultation services.

Held on 26 May 2014, the workshop co-facilitated by Clinical Associate Professor Mimi Yow, NDCS and Associate Professor Sandy Cook, AM•EI, was attended by 15 dental residency educators.

The One-Minute Preceptor model, also known as the five-step micro-skill model, is useful for clinician educators. Used by AM•EI as a structured approach for clinician educators, the model provides a framework for teaching in settings such as clinics while encouraging learners to think critically about a case. To raise the bar of education, preceptors or educators provide valuable feedback on learners’ performance.

Clinical Associate Professor Poon Choy Yoke, Director of NDCS, was one of the participants who found the workshop beneficial. “Most of our staff are involved in clinical teaching. It is one of the most rewarding yet challenging experiences as it is done in a busy clinical environment. Each interaction offers great learning opportunity but is a fine balance between treating a patient and teaching.”

The NDCS workshop made use of roleplay and videos to demonstrate the five steps of good teaching: commitment from learners, probe for evidence, teach general rules, reinforce what was right and correct mistakes.

The videos were the brainchild of Prof Yow, Senior Consultant in Orthodontics. She played the roles of scriptwriter and

actress, roping in fellow colleagues as actors and filming them with the help of SingHealth Academy’s Learning Technologies Team.

“We featured actual chair-side teaching scenarios in our clinics so that our learners could spot the required micro-skills,” explained Prof Yow. “What we wanted our educators to take home were practical methods to improve teacher-learner conversations to facilitate time-efficient teaching in our busy clinical environment.”

Added Prof Poon, “Prof Yow’s videos were a fun yet effective way to enable our educators to teach more effectively. Although it was first customised for orthodontists, we have plans to replicate the workshop for other departments and staff.”

Prof Poon shared that NDCS has plans for more collaboration with AM•EI to ensure the next generation learns to provide even better patient care. In the pipeline are plans for protected time for educators to attend workshops on core competencies and education research, as well as the introduction of educator award schemes.

Clinical Associate Professor Poon Choy Yoke, the new Director of NDCS, shares her learning experience from an in-house workshop customised with help from AM•EI

A vision for education

SNEC partnered AM•EI to organise the first formal training programme for its ophthalmic assistants and technicians on 17 May 2014. The ophthalmic training

programme uses a modular curriculum developed by eye doctors, senior nurses and allied health professionals taking on the role of examiners.

“For our ophthalmic certification programme, we wanted to motivate our nursing and allied health staff to enhance their skills. The programme also offers interprofessional training so that both educators and learners develop a greater understanding of the roles of the other stakeholders,” shared Dr Ian Yeo, SNEC’s Deputy Medical Director (Education). “AM•EI has been a really knowledgeable partner in our journey to develop our continuing healthcare education for our staff and educators,” he added.

The SNEC ophthalmic certification course was also the first in the region to be accredited by the international division of the US-based Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel for Ophthalmology (JCAHPO).

Its pilot run for eight staff members ended in August 2014. SNEC is targeting to train about 20 candidates twice a year and will eventually extend the programme to personnel from other hospitals and neighbouring countries.Adjunct Assoc Prof Shamira Perera, Senior Consultant, SNEC shared that eye care is one of the specialties that relies very much on machines and equipment, which results in the demand for skilful workforce. The different levels of eye care staff are all important and they need to be nurtured to ensure that the next generation can provide even better patient care.”

“As a nurse educator, I find SNEC’s training programme very motivating and rewarding. It brings into clear focus the importance of our continuing education and the need to nurture the next generation as the demand for eye care increases in our ageing population,” shared Chitra Vallei d/o Govindasamy, Assistant Director of Nursing, SNEC.

“AM•EI helped us to structure our course curriculum into one that fit the Duke-NUS’ criteria for a joint academic

programme. AM•EI also guided us through the rigorous review process to gain approval to be the first academic healthcare certification programme that is jointly affiliated with Duke-NUS, ” said Thiyagarajan Jayabaskar, Deputy Director, Academic Affairs, Duke-NUS.

For more information on personalised consultation for Programme Review, Education Research and Education Portfolio, please contact AM•EI.

SNEC collaborated with AM•EI for a successful certification and accreditation of the centre’s ophthalmic course

Clinical Associate ProfessorPoon Choy Yoke Director, NDCS

Clinical Associate ProfessorMimi Yow

Senior Consultant Orthodontics, NDCS

Website: www.academic-medicine.edu.sg/amei/Email: amei-info@duke-nus.edu.sg

Prof Mimi Yow and Assoc Prof Sandy Cook co-facilitating the One-Minute Preceptor workshop for educators.

The interprofessional SNEC team that worked with AM•EI for the certification of its ophthalmic programme