In the dynamic realm of medical education, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) has long recognised the invaluable contributions of clinician educators to its undergraduate programmes. Since its inception in 1997, the clinical faculty appointment scheme has been a distinctive feature of NUS Medicine that highlights the crucial role of clinicians in moulding the future generation of medical professionals. This inclusive approach welcomes clinicians from various career stages, spanning from junior doctors to seasoned senior consultants, whether they are full-time or part-time employees of the Ministry of Health (MOH) or government-restructured hospitals.
Managing clinical faculty appointments requires significant time. This is largely due to the sheer number of clinicians—over 4,500—along with 70 administrative staff across hospitals in Singapore. Adding to the complexity, the annual nomination exercise, intended for contract renewals, promotion, and employment changes, is conducted nationwide. Common feedback received included the lengthy and laborious appointment process.
Leveraging Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), NUS Medicine Dean’s Office embarked on a journey to streamline and automate the appointment processing. Through close collaborations with hospitals, the team actively sought out valuable feedback to refine and enhance the management and processes surrounding clinical faculty appointments.
The culmination of these efforts led to the implementation of an app—Clinical Faculty Appointment Management. Benefits of the app include:
- Enabling direct case uploads and providing a comprehensive overview of submissions.
- Tracking acceptance statuses, eliminating the need for manual follow-up.
- Automating internal processes using PowerApp, which brings forth benefits such as facilitating renewals and enabling auto-renewals.
The Clinical Faculty Appointment Management App aims to streamline and automate the lengthy and laborious processes related to the contract renewals, promotions, and employment changes of NUS Medicine’s clinician educators.
The project was rolled out in phases. In Phase 1, launched in 2020, the app was introduced internally at NUS, featuring a streamlined process for renewals and automated end to end appointment workflow. A standout feature of the app was the use of DocuSign, which not only expedited the appointment issuance process but also automated the generation of letters for clinical faculty appointments, significantly boosting efficiency.
Phase 2, initiated in 2022, introduced a Power BI-based dashboard for consolidated data reporting. The app was also expanded to all healthcare institutions and clusters in 2023. Remote Zoom roadshows were organised to ensure wider accessibility and convenience for all users, aiming to bring attention and awareness to the app. Upon its launch, the app was warmly received by its users, especially the administrative staff from hospitals.
Roadshows were conducted remotely over Zoom to promote awareness of the app among users.
“We used the app during the 2023 nomination exercise for the first time and found it quite user-friendly. Any queries were promptly answered by the NUS Medicine Academic Affairs team," said an administrator at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).
Nurfahtia Baharudin, Executive Assistant in the Education Development Office at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, stated, “The process of uploading the Excel templates for submission was incredibly user-friendly. It required just a simple click of a button.”
The implementation of the app resulted in a 75 per cent reduction in transaction volume, an 80 per cent decrease in internal processing time per cycle, and substantial cost savings.
Speaking about the app’s success, Associate Prof Su Lin Lin, Vice Dean, Academic Affairs said, "The creation of the Clinical Faculty App for Appointment Management has essentially transformed the process of appointment approval. Without the need for multiple meetings, excel files presentations and numerous emails, the whole process has become much more efficient and convenient. The expedited process leads to improved satisfaction for the colleagues that we serve."
Norhaizan Binte Mohamed Jasmin, Assistant Director at NUS Medicine Dean's Office, highlighted the app’s noteworthy achievement in improving user experience and enhancing efficiency in clinical faculty appointments process. Norhaizan added, “As we move forward, let us continue to embrace the spirit of innovation and collaboration. This will ensure that we always stay at the forefront of excellence and contribute meaningfully to the broader healthcare and educational landscape”.
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