Disrupting the disruption: Using digital tools to support psychiatry residency training in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

This letter discusses the use of digital tools to support psychiatry residency training in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Psychiatry Residency Program is a five-year program accredited by the US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-International (ACGME-I) and Joint Committee on Specialty Training (JCST), Singapore. The pandemic infection control measures, including social distancing and cross hospital movement restrictions, have created unprecedented challenges to training. Psychiatry residents cannot meet in groups, go outside of their current sites to do clinical work or attend educational activities, and ambulatory teams have halted home visits and day treatment programs. However, in the process, other clinical learning opportunities have unexpectedly arisen. To help with shifting demands, some psychiatry residents have been assigned to different services than the ones belonging to their rotations. Several residents have volunteered for deployment to medical facilities which are set up in the community, and are assisting medical teams in managing clinically ill patients. There are ongoing discussions between the residency program committee, central educational office and health authorities to ensure that requisite training rotations are being fulfilled as best as possible at the respective training sites. Although the disruption to psychiatry residency training in the midst of the pandemic is severe, the innovative use of digital platforms is coming of age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)