COVID-19 in Singapore: Graduate Medical Education in The Face of a Global Pandemic

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreads outside China rapidly and became a global pandemic. Recognising its severity and with experiences from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) outbreak in 2003, the Singapore government promptly and decisively implemented measures to contain the disease. Many of them have direct effects on our healthcare workers (HCW), and our graduate medical education, which is modelled after the US residency training system, has invariably been impacted to a large degree. Strategies aimed at minimising unnecessary contact between HCW, and directives to step up on human resources as healthcare institutions prepare to cope with a disease outbreak called for modifications to residents' training routine. Residents are affected by curtailment of leave and reallocation of manpower to meet the demands at various frontlines and have to cope with significant physical and emotional stress from anxiety and even pessimism as the situation unfolds with unpredictability. Nevertheless, the pandemic also presents a rare opportunity for residents to learn about healthcare in an international and interdisciplinary context, and develop qualities like resilience, adaptability and solidarity in the face of a medical crisis.