Division of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine

As part of the University Medicine Cluster, we are a team of clinicians who specialises in the fields of respiratory medicine (which focuses on disorders of the lungs) and intensive care medicine (which focuses on critically ill patients). We strive to improve the outcomes of patients with respiratory and critical illnesses through holistic care, clinical research, and medical education of the highest quality. We apply evidence-based medicine as we care for patients with lung conditions as well as patients in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Medical High Dependency Unit with the help of state-of-the-art medications and devices.

We are actively involved in clinical research, and much of the research work is patient-centric. Clinical outcomes that truly matter are emphasised, i.e. how can the patient survive, how does the patient feel, and how does the patient function. Due to the patient-centric focus, coupled by clinical research and quality improvement, we have seen a consistent improvement in patient outcomes over time, i.e. for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and severe community-acquired pneumonia. A quality improvement and research initiative in the acute use of non-invasive ventilation has also won us the prestigious National Medical Excellence Award. Our research papers on topics such as pleural disorders, lung infections including tuberculosis, airway diseases, interventional pulmonology, sleep disorders, critical illness, and medical education, have been published in multiple medical journals.

We run programmes to train our future generation of clinicians, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Our structured teaching curriculum for the future generation of doctors focuses on the core competencies of patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice, professionalism, and interpersonal skills and communication. Regular intra-division and multidisciplinary teaching sessions and grand rounds are held each week. Junior doctors are trained in the management of both common and rare respiratory disorders, lung physiology and pathology, pulmonary function tests, diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy and thoracoscopy, respiratory radiology including ultrasound, sleep medicine, intensive care medicine, medical education, clinical research, and quality improvement projects. Our passion for medical education is evident through the many teaching awards we have won.