The beginning of residency is one of the key milestones in the life of every young doctor. Exciting as it is, embarking on this journey does come with apprehension and uncertainties. What better way to allay these fears than to participate in team-bonding activities that will bring you closer to your fellow residents (and even faculty)? We have compiled here recounts of the three sponsoring institutions' residency orientation programmes, where residents and faculty forge bonds that will hopefully last through the course of residency and beyond.
Ryan Leow
The key to the National University Health System's (NUHS) residency orientation experience has always been the visit to Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) on the distant exotic shores of Pulau Ubin. A shared rite of passage for all new residents, this three-day orientation programme comprises team-building activities to reflect and understand how our NUHS values are developed, and how they can carry us through the challenges we might face. Incredibly, every year, our programme directors participate alongside all of us fresh-faced residents through the entire OBS programme – including gamely paddling a leaky bathtub (officially known as a "kayak") around the entire island of Pulau Ubin. A new change to our programme has been to involve our allied health colleagues – experienced nurses and radiographers, among others – in the OBS experience, and I personally felt that this is a valuable way to build collegiality and break down some of the distance that separates us in our work.
This shared orientation programme gave us the benefit of building friendships with our colleagues-to-be. We had the opportunity to interact with those outside our chosen residency programme, and the chance to speak frankly with our bosses about our worries and insecurities embarking on the new challenge of residency training. I still feel this was a uniquely-designed experience, and my only wish would be to give more juniors and allied health colleagues the chance to join, and perhaps one day to bring back residents from earlier batches to join alongside future intakes of new residents.
Cheong Li Anne
It was once again that time of the year to welcome new residents and postgraduate year 1s. On 21 April 2018, new SingHealth residents, existing residents and faculty members gathered in Sentosa for the freshman orientation programme.
The day began with pleasantries, icebreakers, sheepish introductions and the stress of learning so many new names. But as soon as the games started, the ice was promptly broken – or should I say "melted"? Under the scorching sun, we tackled it out over water soccer, raced down the beach inside giant inflatable bubbles, and even built rafts and sailed the sea (just a tiny stretch). Through all the fun and games, we began to forge new friendships. It was also great to see our core faculty members let their hair down and I am sure they had a great time interacting with the many new residents.
Although the day came to a close quite quickly, we were all glad to have taken with us some fond memories in addition to an adequate dose of vitamin D. It was rather heartening helping a new resident to troubleshoot a ward printer the week after the orientation, as we compared our tan lines that were left behind from that sunny Saturday!
Eugene Seng
This is an extract of an article first published in the September/October 2017 issue of LearniNHG, a two-monthly e-newsletter by NHG Education.
Some 90 residents from the National Healthcare Group (NHG) bonded with more than 160 seniors over a game of "Life Experiences" bingo and jigsaw puzzles at four Senior Activity Centres (SACs) in Toa Payoh, Potong Pasir and Bendemeer, on 29 July and 5 August 2017.
Partnering with Community Chest Singapore, it was the first time new NHG residents, faculty and staff visited the SACs managed by Care Corner, Calvary Community Care and Lion Befrienders, as part of NHG Residency's third Community Engagement Day (CED).
This event is held annually in July as part of the residency orientation, which aims to enable new residents to better appreciate and understand the healthcare ecosystem holistically. "It is an opportunity to get us [doctors] to think about what we should do for our patients, and our community," said A/Prof Nicholas Chew, Designated Institutional Official, NHG Residency.
"The most important thing is to understand our patients, learn from them, [and] find out what their backgrounds are," said Dr William Chan, Programme Director, NHG Rehabilitation Medicine Residency Programme, who participated in the CED.
Dr Hong Qiantai, senior resident, NHG General Surgery Residency Programme, shared that, "Acquiring this knowledge [about the community] and understanding what goes on in the community is the first step."
"Sometimes, we can be so deeply studied in our area of work that we become blind to the things that we do not know," said A/Prof Chew addressing the new residents. "And I hope that today's experience will open your mind as you continue to deepen your pursuit in specific areas of medicine."