How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Starting pay after internship/housemanship is about 4500. 500 clinical allowance per month.

Working hours abt 7.30am to 6pm weekdays
Sat and sun have to come back for at least one morning.

Each week u get a overnight call. Which u get about 200-300 depending whether it is public holiday or weekend or weekdays.

Leave is about 3 weeks.

Overall is tolerable. Most ppl leave in 5 years to become general practitioner.

Bro 7.30am is for reg to come in, juniors like us HOs/MOs come in at 5-6am. I know we all want angmo chio bu as colleagues but please give them an accurate picture of the working reality. There's a reason why most of our foreign docs are cecas/pinoys/PRCs.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Working at TTSH now. Leave is getting cancelled, everyone is getting activated for the wuhan mess.
Ridiculous situation esp with the pitiful bonus and zero gratitude the higher ups seem to be according to us

They are people who break bonds , esp if private sector buys them over. Can work out with private sector if they r interested in u.

Many roads lead to Rome.

In Sg, usually Drs who earn big money r in politics. Or business. Eg Dr Loo in RMG and Ministers like Dr Ng Eng Hen and Dr Vivian. But must get community support and be headhunted. They r good Drs, capable, hence headhunted by PAP. Of course must be Singaporean citizen also. There will be public uproar otherwise.

Now for the younger strawberry generation. My advice is know yr limits and take good care of yourselves.

Burnout is real esp when u have a family and get older.

Build a strong network in your fraternity. Drs in Sg need a better union. Someone to stand up for our rights and speak on our behalf. SMA doesn't seem to be doing that. Maybe, we r trained to be obedient from young, that's why. But if something is really wrong and u feel strongly then get peer support and present yr case. But of course the fear is CECA and cheap labour from Malaysia and India waiting to take over our place if we protest too much.

That is how PAP controls us. Through fear, cause we r replaceable.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Bro 7.30am is for reg to come in, juniors like us HOs/MOs come in at 5-6am. I know we all want angmo chio bu as colleagues but please give them an accurate picture of the working reality. There's a reason why most of our foreign docs are cecas/pinoys/PRCs.

How you know is chio bu? Maybe is angmo hunk.

Anyway work life balance for junior doctors in Singapore SUCKS. Seriously. Even Singaporeans who studied abroad swear they will not go back to Singapore!

So it is absolutely INSANE for junior doctors from 1st world nations to want to go to Singapore to work.

It is different if you have already completed your training and are a senior well recognized specialist moving to Singapore.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Bro 7.30am is for reg to come in, juniors like us HOs/MOs come in at 5-6am. I know we all want angmo chio bu as colleagues but please give them an accurate picture of the working reality. There's a reason why most of our foreign docs are cecas/pinoys/PRCs.

Only for GS. I never seen a gen med ho/mo coming at 5am in my entire life.

But i personally came at 4am once post take for surgery before >5yrs ago

Gs mo comes at 7 usually.
5-6am is really a v transient phase of gs ho life

For gen med is really about 7am even for ho

How much do registrars in public hospitals make?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Only for GS. I never seen a gen med ho/mo coming at 5am in my entire life.

But i personally came at 4am once post take for surgery before >5yrs ago

Gs mo comes at 7 usually.
5-6am is really a v transient phase of gs ho life

For gen med is really about 7am even for ho

Does SGH GS still have their M&M on Friday Mornings? 7am?

I was SGH GS MO Oct 2002 to May 2003.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I swear all the people this generation all super soft one. When they meet some difficulties they will start complaining. Being a junior has always been this way, you have the least say as you have the least experience, you are not able to call the shots. This has always been the way in probably anywhere you go, everyone has been through that phase. I hope you became a doctor because you wanted to help people and not because you assumed that they are the biggest shot in the healthcare system.

Your life is not the worst, Doctors in Singapore back during the SARS crisis have been infected and even one died trying to treat the sick. Another user here also said that in China Doctors are attacked and are not paid well, many Doctors in China from other cities are also willing to risk their own lives and go into Wuhan to treat the sick. Would you have done the same? So just endure and do your job, remember why you’re in this line of work, to help the sick and the needy. If your whole goal is to just have an easy life, maybe dentistry would be something up your alley instead.

Spoken like a true boomer doctor, "BACK IN MY DAY...."
Back in your day you could afford landed property and a car as a medical officer
So shut your trap

Would like to ask current or ex fam med residents. Where do most of the fam med residents go after they graduate from the residency programme? Do they stay on in polyclinic/government hospitals like comm hosp/do sub spec like Geri or sports medicine/go private?
If they stay on in polyclinic or government institution, do they function like a Mo/junior Rp and what is the pay range like?

Just curious, coming from a junior (ho) who is interested in FM.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Would like to ask current or ex fam med residents. Where do most of the fam med residents go after they graduate from the residency programme? Do they stay on in polyclinic/government hospitals like comm hosp/do sub spec like Geri or sports medicine/go private?
If they stay on in polyclinic or government institution, do they function like a Mo/junior Rp and what is the pay range like?

Just curious, coming from a junior (ho) who is interested in FM.

Current FM resident here.
Subspecializing from FM is rare and don't make much sense

Avaliable speciality are avaiation med, palliative, sports med, rehab med (newly added this year) and possibly Geri (I think might not accept anymore)
Geri and rehab are hospital speciality. U become a senior resident...and u got to do icu and reg calls. FM doesn't prepare u to do that. The only thing I am confident to do in code is to do cpr.
Also you application cycle is late becuase FM exit exams is in Nov. Compared to someone who finish IM training with u same year, u will enter the program when he finish senior resident year 2.
Aviation, sports med and palliative are not nationally run residency, but their intake rate is low.

FM pays competitively in public sector actually. Once u pass the m.med u are a junior family physician, roughly like a registrar in hospital term. Net annual package in polyclinic is higher than a similar year senior resident even with their call allowance. To hit consultant in poly, u need to do fellowship, but consultant position are not a lot la, so there a ceiling as compared to a subspecializing , where u are a consultant by default.
But try to do a polyclinic posting first. Casemix is actually very varied and challenging. U cannot say I dun know, not my speciality and u need to see about 60 patients a day to hit quota. It's not fun. I finish the day at 430pm to 5pm, but my mind is numb for the rest of the night. Hospital posting while start early, still got time to drink kopi, zone out a bit here and there, chat up cute dieticians etc. . In Polyclinic ,patient keep coming at u like a train. Go home is buay Lin Chu.

For me..I can't do hospital jobs becuase calls kills me , with the weekend rounds, I feel like my life is gone. I cannot do this for 6 more years. . My lifespan shorten by few months whenever I go on call, hence I choose one that let me finish up with shortest amount of calls.
If I were in Australia where overall lifestyle is better..I definitely would have chosen a speciality...becuase end of day, despite what the goverment is blasting about, being good at one thing ,or specialist outtrumps a generalist from the point of the medical practitioner.

Any hospitals implementing the 1 week stay in and 1 week out thing yet?