Biographical Sketch

Prof Ng Han Seong is the Group Chief Risk Officer of SingHealth and Senior Director of the Office of Chief Executive Officer at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). He holds a multitude of honorary appointments in the Singapore Medical Council, National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Ministry of Health, Singapore (MOH). Prof Ng also heads the Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Primary and Community Care Division of the MOH and is the Registrar of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board.

Prof Ng has worked in SGH for more than 30 years and is Emeritus Consultant in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. His main special interest is in the management of liver diseases, in particular, Hepatitis B and Autoimmune Hepatitis.

He is active in hospital administration, medical education and clinical research. He had authored and co-authored 94 papers and delivered several Named lectures. He was Editor and co-author of 2 medical books in Gastroenterology/Internal Medicine.

Prof Ng believes strongly in the education of future generations of healthcare professionals and is actively involved in teaching and mentoring of post-graduate medical doctors. He was awarded the SGH Best Teacher award in 1995, the National Outstanding Clinician Mentor Award in 2009 and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) National Day Award in 2012.


Synopsis

ERM 2 - Panel Discussion – “Patient Handoffs – Challenges & Opportunities”

Patient handoff (or handover) is the process of transforming responsibility for patient care from one healthcare professional / group of healthcare providers to another.

At the core of every safe patient handoff is the ability of the handling over party to transmit all vital information (e.g. key patient parameters, test results, medication, allergies, procedures done/pending etc.) accurately and concisely to the receiving party for follow-up action to be taken as intended. This is especially important during change of shift; "step-up" or "step-down" of patient care; or when patients are referred form one care setting to another (e.g. the general ward to ICU); or when patients are discharged for follow-up management at specialist outpatient clinics, polyclinics, or their caregivers at home or in the community.

Any gap in communication during patient handoff would result in delay/omission of required care; or inappropriate treatment that could potentially harm patients and/or medical malpractice claims.

Our panelists comprising practioners in the Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy disciplines will be sharing the challenges they face; and insights on what could be done better during patient handoffs.