Commonwealth (UK) Medical Education System A Singapore Counterpart Farid Abdul Hadi, MD Lien Fellow of Palliative Medicine (Internal Medicine) Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS)
Why are we awake after sipping coffee?
What is Commonwealth? Previously called British Commonwealth, currently addressed Commonwealth Nations Intergovernmental organization, 54 members, former British Empire (except Cameroon and Mozambique) Countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status, and cooperate within a framework of common values and goals; promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace carried out through multilateral projects and meetings, as well as the quadrennial games. More or less, their medical education system is somewhat similar
UK Undergraduate Med Curriculum
Singapore Med Education Curriculum National University of Singapore Follow British medical education system A-Level Junior College (Pre-Uni) University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicates (UCLES) standard in Singapore 5-year undergrad medical study (3 preclin+ 2 clin) Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Follow American medical education system Undergraduate degree (preferably American) 4-year graduate medical study (1 preclin+ 2 clin+ 1 research) Others MD-Ph.D(6-year NUS or 7-year Duke-NUS) Extremely competitive
Doctor Career Options Research opportunity for every level of medical career, including students Pharmaceutical and health-allied industry a/w recent advances in medicine bioinformatics, medical engineering, etc. Administrative scheme; insurance, finance, etc. Public health sector; government, nongovernment, local, international, etc. Other career Medical specialty (more than 60 listed in UK)
UK-Singapore Local Medical Doctor Specialty Clinician Milestone (Undergraduate Entry, Fastest Track) Checkpoint Year UK Singapore Med School Undergrad Exam OR PLAB 1 Collegiate Postgrad BST 2 Exam Collegiate Postgrad AST 3 Exam Fellowship/Resea arch Year 1 to 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 Year 14 to 22 >Year 22 Undergraduate Medical School Housemanship/Internship Housemanship/Internship Specialty Registrar Consultant Medical Officer Senior Consultant Specialty Registrar/Associate Consultant 1) PLAB = Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board 2) BST= Basic Specialty Training, e.g. Membership of The Royal College of Physician (MRCP), Intercollegiate Membership of The Royal College of Surgeon (MRCS), Membership of The Royal College of Ophtamology(MRCOpth.), etc. 3) AST = Advanced Specialty Training, e.g. Fellowship of The Royal College of Physician (FRCP), Fellowship of The Royal College of Surgery (FRCS), Fellowship of The Royal College of
Conditions applied in commonwealth Like most foreign countries worldwide, commonwealth nations have work-based training in hospitals Proportion: around 70% work, 30% academic Trainings in most hospitals, even privates (espaustralia), not only those with med schools Teaching/mentoring (training to train) is a vital part to keep the chain EVERY doctor is teaching staff for postgraduate training Self-motivated skill and knowledge effort is extremely essential Training curriculum is organized in a nation-scale defined with postgraduate BST and AST board exam All trainees are paid under general working scheme Indonesia used to has work-based training, but along with outnumber proportion of med schools to teaching hospitals (teaching staffs) and national scale curriculum, training is shifted to academic-based training
Key elements for getting work-basedpostgraduate training in the Commonwealth: 1-JOB/WORKING OPPORTUNITIES 2-MEDICALLY REGISTERED
Medical Registration in UK for Indonesian Medical Graduates 1. The Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test 2. Acceptable postgraduate qualifications 3. Sponsorship 4. Eligibility for specialist or GP registration Refer to General Medical Council (GMC) United Kingdom: http://www.gmc-uk.org/index.asp
PLABTest Note that you have to pass IELTSmin overall 7.0, Speaking 7.0, listening 6.0, reading 6.0, writing 6.0 (www.ets.org) Documents translation specified agents from GMC Internship in/outside UK is obligatory Part 1 200 Extended Matching Questions ( 145) UK: London, Birmingham, Glasgow, or Edinburgh Overseas: Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, West Indies, and South Africa Part 2 OSCE, only in Manchester (UK)( 430) Must have guaranteed of job prospect in UK Sponsorhip scheme must also pass the PLAB test Courses UK Centre: www.pastest.co.uk Online Centre: www.onexamination.com(and many more) Refer to GMC PLAB Guidelines
UK-Singapore Local Medical Doctor Specialty Clinician Milestone (Undergraduate Entry, Fastest Track) Checkpoint Year UK Singapore Med School Undergrad Exam OR PLAB 1 Collegiate Postgrad BST 2 Exam Collegiate Postgrad AST 3 Exam Fellowship/Resea arch Year 1 to 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 Year 14 to 22 >Year 22 Undergraduate Medical School Housemanship/Internship Housemanship/Internship Specialty Registrar Consultant Medical Officer Senior Consultant Specialty Registrar/Associate Consultant 1) PLAB = Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board 2) BST= Basic Specialty Training, e.g. Membership of The Royal College of Physician (MRCP), Intercollegiate Membership of The Royal College of Surgeon (MRCS), Membership of The Royal College of Ophtamology(MRCOpth.), etc. 3) AST = Advanced Specialty Training, e.g. Fellowship of The Royal College of Physician (FRCP), Fellowship of The Royal College of Surgery (FRCS), Fellowship of The Royal College of
Medical Registration in Singapore for Indonesian Medical Graduates 1. Full Registration 2. Conditional Registration Recognized Postgraduate Degree 3. Temporary Registration 4. Provisional Registration Recognized Basic Medical Degree The Singapore Medical Council (SMC) grants temporary registrationto the following groups: Visiting experts here to perform medical or surgical procedures or conduct demonstrations on patients; Foreign-trained doctors here for training attachments, research or postgraduate training in approved institutions, e.g. in restructured hospitals. They will be designated as clinical fellows or clinical observers. Doctors without registrablequalifications to work in specialties/department where there is an acute shortage of doctors (Temporary Registration of Doctors in Areas of Need). Refer to Singapore Medical Council (SMC): http://www.smc.gov.sg
Options to work/training in Singapore for Indonesian Medical Graduates Clinical field 1. Find postgraduate training opportunities in interested field after 3-year working experience following internship (new regulation, refer to SMC Temporary Registration Scheme). Sometimes the opportunities come along during the specialist training taken in Indonesia (e.g. in the middle of PPDS) 2. Find job opportunities in Areas of Need 1 following at least 3-year working experience and/or having specialist degree in related field of medicine refer to SMC Temporary Registration for Service Provision in Areas of Need 3. Take specialist training in Indonesia as well as taking recognizable postgraduate BSTdegree (i.e. MRCS, MRCP, MRCS, DO-HNS, etc.) refer to SMC List of Recognizable Postgraduate Degree 4. Obtain 4-year MD or 7-year MD/Ph.D. program at Duke-NUSGraduate Medical School, provided passing the American Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) refer to www.amc.org 1) Emergency Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Rehabilitation Medicine, Internal Medicine, Renal Medicine, Neonatology, Paediatric Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Child Development
UK-Singapore Local Medical Doctor Specialty Clinician Milestone (Undergraduate Entry, Fastest Track) Checkpoint Year UK Singapore Med School Undergrad Exam OR PLAB 1 Collegiate Postgrad BST 2 Exam Collegiate Postgrad AST 3 Exam Fellowship/Resea arch Year 1 to 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 Year 14 to 22 >Year 22 Undergraduate Medical School Housemanship/Internship Housemanship/Internship Specialty Registrar Consultant Medical Officer Senior Consultant Specialty Registrar/Associate Consultant 1) PLAB = Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board 2) BST= Basic Specialty Training, e.g. Membership of The Royal College of Physician (MRCP), Intercollegiate Membership of The Royal College of Surgeon (MRCS), Membership of The Royal College of Ophtamology(MRCOpth.), etc. 3) AST = Advanced Specialty Training, e.g. Fellowship of The Royal College of Physician (FRCP), Fellowship of The Royal College of Surgery (FRCS), Fellowship of The Royal College of
Options to work/training in Singapore (broad spectrum) Other fields Find the job opportunities in interested field (i.e. research fellows, pharmaceutical industries, insurance companies, or any fields). Normally they require extensive working experience in respected fields with preferable master or Ph.D. qualification Note that Singapore is international hub with extensive planning in biomedical research and healthcare industry
MRCP It is ONE of ofrecognizable postgraduate degree in Singapore Considered as BSTpostgraduate degree, consist of Part 1, Part 2, and Part 2 Clinical Examination (PACES) Having at least 12-month clinical working experience Posted in internal medicine position, especially in Commonwealth nations or places where supervised by FRCP-trained consultants/senior consultants Final specialty training must have reference(s) from FRCPtrained consultants for the past three years Part 1&2 costs 379 in UK and 536 in overseas centre PACES costs 595 in UK and 1200 in overseas (Singapore)
Refer to Ministry of Health Singapore, Department of Health UK, and Ministry of Manpower Singapore WORKING ADVANTAGE IN SINGAPORE
Personal opinion and experience MEDICAL TRAINING SELF- DEVELOPMENT
References General Medical Council (GMC) United Kingdom. Section Medical Registration Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB). www.gmc-uk.org Singapore Medical Council (SMC). Section Medical Registration Full, Conditional, Temporary, and Provisional Registration. www.smc.gov.sg National Healthcare Group (NHG) Singapore. www.nhg.com.sg Ministry of Health (MoH) Singapore. www.moh.gov.sg Ministry of Manpower (MoM) Singapore. www.mom.gov.sg Department of Health United Kingdom. www.dh.gov.uk Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ). Commonwealth Secretariat. McKinnon, Don. 2008. "A Commonwealth of Values: a Commonwealth of incomparable value". The Round Table 97 (394): pp. 19 28. Chew, CH. 2005. Postgraduate Training in Singapore. Ann Acad Med Singapore. Vol.34:182C-189C Dundee Medical School Curriculum Guidelines. www.dundee.ac.uk Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore (NUS) Curriculum Guidelines. www.med.nus.edu.sg Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS) Curriculum Guidelines. Section MD, MD-Ph.D. www.duke-nus.edu.sg The Membership of Royal College of Physician (MRCP). All Section. www.mrcpuk.org Times Higher Education Survey (THES). Section World Top Universities, Asian Top Universities, subsection Biomedical Sciences and Life Sciences. Taken from QS. www.qs.com Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). A member of National Healthcare Group Singapore. www.ttsh.com.sg Personal materials property of FaridAbdul Hadi, MD. Lien Fellow of Palliative Medicine. Dover Park Hospice and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore 2010.