Excellence Champion Medal
Alexandra Hospital (AH)
Palliative Response Team: Increasing Compassionate Discharges (ComD) Success
Lead: Dr Yong Woon Chai, Head and Senior Consultant, Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Medicine, Alexandra Hospital
Members: Dr Thi Phuong Tu Pham, Nur Sa'idah Binti Jalani, Radin Nur Faridah Binte Ali, Theresa Heng, Tan Li Ping, Than Myint Myint, Kelly Lai, Siti Raihana Binte Mohamed Shariff, Tan Poh Hoon, Janet Lam, Golda Wang, Irene Chen
The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced a goal to reduce in-hospital deaths from 61% to 51% by 2027. Expanding access to compassionate discharge (ComD) is a key strategy to achieve this objective. It allows critically ill patients with a short life expectancy to be discharged home for end-of-life care. Unfortunately, many deaths occur in the hospital due to delays in discharge and limited after-hours hospice support.
Best Practice Medal
National University Hospital
Leveraging Endeavour AI to Eliminate Redundant CT Studies Performed
Lead: Ang Xu Kai, Senior Radiographer, National University Hospital
Members: Andrew Makmur, Regine Teo, Jen Hsin-Yu, Desmond Lim
The Endeavour AI (EAI) platform, designed by NUHS, is a EMR digital twin with TIBCO Spotfire App layered as a low-code platform that empowers and enables domain expert end-user to solve their important issues. It can process patient data from electronic health records to identify potential duplicate CT examinations. It utilises rule-based codes for real-time vetting, highlighting duplicates for cancellation or further investigation, thus streamlining the process and reducing reliance on manual vetting. This demonstrates the platform’s effectiveness, accessibility, customizability, and scalability, offering significant improvements in reducing redundant CT studies
Best Practice Medal
Ng Teng Fong General Hospital
Vertical Integration of Hardware and Software Automation in Pharmacy (VIP)
Lead: Lim Shi Zong, Nigel, Senior Pharmacist, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital
Members: Norjanah Binte Alias, Norfadhilah Binte Samsuri, Chloe Chong Kai Li, Chong Zhi Yan, Menakah Alagappa, Siti Nurul Hudah Binte Salleh, Ng Mui Kiau, Lim Geok Choo, Awadah Binte Sabahrudin, Fung Kar Yen
The Outpatient Pharmacy at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH), which serves an average of 650 to 700 patients/day, faced teething issues with the adoption of automation due to inherent flexibility with the traditional horizontal integration model. The heavy reliance on external parties for the provision of automation-related services limited the overall agility and efficiency of the pharmacy and discouraged innovation. This transformation has led to zero OPAS-related medication error, with over 330,000 medications packed. since its initiation in December 2021, saving 585 man-hours.
Best Practice Medal
Ng Teng Fong General Hospital
Automated Code Red Alerts (ACRA) and ICU Outreach Nursing Service (ICUORN)
Lead: Low Ting Jun, Assistant Nurse Clinician, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital
Members: Patricia Leong Lee Chuen, Ong Yoke Moi, Kelvin Lew Sin Min (Liu Xinmin), Jeremy Tan Kian Soon, Faheem Khan Ahmed
The team developed the ACRA system, an automated early recognition and alert triggering system for patients at risk of deterioration in the general ward. This minimised human errors and oversights, ensuring timely alert notifications to senior clinicians. Additionally, the team implemented a job redesign initiative, upskilling ICU nurses into ICUORNs to provide critical expert support to acutely ill patients in the general ward. By aligning with the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) system, this approach not only improved patient care but also minimised preventable morbidity and mortality.
Best Adoption Medal
Alexandra Hospital (AH), National University Hospital (NUH), St Luke's Hospital Stroke Support Station, NTUC Health Nursing Homes, St Luke's Eldercare, Jurong Community Hospital (JCH)
Improving Mobility Via Exoskeletons (iMOVE) - Implementing wearable robotic exoskeleton use across the continuum of rehabilitation care, from hospital to community
Lead: Dr Effie Chew, Director, Centre for Functional Mobility and Enabling Technologies, NUHS & Head, Rehabilitation Centre, AH
Members: Nur Shafawati Kamsani, Suresh Ramaswamy, Yap Thian Yong, Alexis Lau, Jean Tan, Lui Yook Ing, Qiu Wenjing, Evania Wong, Tang Ning
Rehabilitation of mobility after acquired neurological injuries such as stroke is labour-intensive. More than 80 per cent of acute stroke survivors have impaired walking ability. Robotic exoskeleton training (RET) has been proven to be more effective than conventional physiotherapy to help stroke survivors achieve independent walking. The iMOVE project involved the participation of six organisations over eight sites (hospital and community rehabilitation care sites) in a case-controlled study. After 12 sessions, patients who required continuous assistance to walk were found to have better mobility after training using the wearable robotic exoskeleton, as compared to the control group who underwent conventional physiotherapy.
Best Practice Medal
NUHS Group Facility Management (GFM)
Strategic Transformation - From Preventive to Predictive Maintenance
Lead: Ng Kian Swan, Group Chief Operating Officer, Group Biomedical Engineering & Group Facilities Management, Operations Risk, Security & Emergency Planning, NUHS & Chief Operating Officer, NTFGH & JCH
Members: Kelvin Quek, Koh Yong Lee, Jonson Sofian Teo, Kuan Kwok Yew, Leong Kim Teck, Low Jie Ling
Hospitals under the NUHS are important assets and we continually need to make them safer, smarter and greener. The shift from preventive to predictive maintenance aims to minimise labour-intensive operations and deploy safer, efficient and productive ways to manage our facilities. Three major initiatives were implemented to improve safety, efficiency and productivity: deploying a drone to conduct building inspections; using a IoT (Internet of Things) sensor system to predict when maintenance is needed before infrastructure/equipment failure can compromise patient safety and disrupt operations; and applying touchless technology in the visitor lifts to reduce the transmission of bacteria/viruses and dependence on housekeeping.
JurongHealth Campus
Placing Sustainability at The Core of Everything We Do
Lead: Ng Kian Swan, Group Chief Operating Officer, Group Biomedical Engineering & Group Facilities Management, Operations Risk, Security & Emergency Planning, NUHS & Chief Operating Officer, NTFGH & JCH
Members: Kelvin Quek, Jonson Sofian Teo, Sim Siew Ngoh, Vijayarani D/O Navasivayam, Choo Kok Seng, Lim Meng Keong, Lim Tow Peng, Ronnie Liu, Ryan Ye
The 'Go Green' strategy adopted by JurongHealth Campus focuses on maintaining sustainable and resilient facilities and using technological advances to optimise energy efficiency. The strategy includes innovative solutions such as using solar panels to convert sunlight directly into energy; equipping lifts and escalators with sleep mode functions, installation of motion sensors and LED lights, and harvesting rain water for watering plants. In the area of environmental stewardship, staff have shown that they place sustainability at the core of what they do. Successful ground up projects include the practice of turning off equipment and kitchen appliances, etc., when facilities are not in use/over weekends, and switching to Economy Mode (OT Setback) at the Operating Theatre when the rooms are not in use.
