Palliative Care Training for Public Sector Doctors

Ms Tin Pei Ling asked the Minister for Health given the National Strategy for Palliative Care (a) what proportion of public sector doctors currently undergo routine training in the care of patients with life-limiting illnesses; and (b) whether the Ministry will make it compulsory for all junior doctors to complete a posting where they are exposed to and trained in the care of patients with life-limiting illnesses.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Doctors can expect to encounter patients with life-limiting conditions in the course of their careers. These life-limiting conditions include advanced cancer or organ failures, such as lung, kidney or heart failure. It is therefore important that doctors are able to identify and manage the symptoms and psychosocial issues that patients with life-limiting illnesses may have, and for complex cases, refer the patients to specialists who can treat them.

During medical school, medical students are provided with awareness of basic concepts of palliative care and are exposed to the management of patients with life-limiting illness. For example, the medical students at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine have a four-day palliative care module consisting of small group interactive teaching sessions and attachments to hospices, palliative home care, and hospital-based palliative care services. Medical students at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School have a similar one-day programme, with an option to further spend two to four weeks of elective rotations in palliative medicine.

After graduating from medical school, all doctors undergo broad-based training in their first year as a house officer or resident, during which they are equipped with basic knowledge on management of a range of conditions, including life-limiting ones. Doctors who subsequently enrol in training in disciplines, such as Family Medicine, Internal Medicine or Geriatric Medicine, can opt for postings in palliative medicine as part of their training. Doctors may also enrol in specialist training in Palliative Medicine which equips them with specialised skills to manage complicated cases.

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Under the National Strategy for Palliative Care, we envisage that all health care professionals should be equipped with basic knowledge and skills to manage patients with life-limiting illnesses. MOH will continue to work with the medical schools to enhance the curriculum for undergraduate and postgraduate doctors to build up basic palliative care knowledge among doctors. MOH has appointed a workgroup to review the palliative care training in the curriculum for undergraduate and postgraduate doctors and make recommendations to enhance the content and structure of training. MOH is committed to expand and train our healthcare professionals to ensure an adequate supply of quality manpower to care for patients with life-limiting conditions.