Singapore public healthcare group launches national knowledge exchange platform

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a learning platform facilitated the swift learning and implementation of an innovation for Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH)’s medication dispensing needs.  

The interim platform, set up by the Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) under the National Healthcare Group (NHG), enabled a pharmacist at TTSH to discover an efficient and safe solution developed by Singapore General Hospital (SGH). 

Later connecting with the SGH’s project lead, the TTSH pharmacist learnt from experience and implemented the same solution in just two weeks.  

Last week, the Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI), under the National Healthcare Group, officially launched the learning and development system by the name of CHILD. 

Speaking to GovInsider, CHI’s Clinical Director, Associate Professor Wong Hon Tym, shared how this real-world example underscores how the platform can significantly reduce implementation timelines and optimise resource allocation through the public healthcare system.  

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CHILD's value for public healthcare professionals

Prof Wong said that CHILD fills a gap in the public healthcare ecosystem for “a common platform” where all healthcare institutions can work with community and industry partners to exchange knowledge and advance healthcare innovation. 

He likened CHILD to be a “PubMed [a free database for biomedical and life sciences literature] of healthcare innovation, improvement and productivity projects”. 

Funded by Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH), the centralised knowledge management repository is a multi-agency endeavor. 

The tech is supported by Synapxe; with project contributions also coming from the other two public healthcare clusters including SingHealth and National University Health System (NUHS), as well as the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). 

The platform currently houses more than 2,600 healthcare innovation projects from across the three clusters. 

“CHILD effectively prevents 'reinventing the wheel' by facilitating knowledge sharing across healthcare institutions, enabling faster and more informed decision-making based on existing practices and evidence,” he added. 

Collaborative features of CHILD

Beyond merely serving as a platform to read about and share projects, Prof Wong shared several key features of CHILD that foster collaboration. 

Firstly, users can connect directly with the project lead through mandatory contact information tied to each submission.
 

Secondly, users can easily find relevant projects and challenges through a a search and filtering option on the platform. 

Thirdly, users can follow individuals with similar areas of interest or expertise, and the platform makes it easier to discover potential collaborators to work with by recommending relevant topics.  

Lastly, the platform will incorporate online Communities of Practice (CoP) that bring together public and private healthcare institutions, community agencies, and even patients and caregivers to work together to tackle the challenges faced in the sector. 

Currently in its initial phase, the team behind CHILD is working with selected groups in the sector to establish and grow these communities.

"These functions allow users of CHILD to move beyond passive reading of projects to active engagement with other users to foster meaningful cross-institutional collaborations and partnerships,” he added. 

For users who want to submit projects, the platform aims to make submissions “straightforward and user-friendly". 

"Submitters simply have to click the ‘Share’ button on the platform and upload their project details. Each submission undergoes a review by the CHILD administrative team before publication.” 

The platform is open for submissions in both local and international healthcare settings. 

Targeting to share learnings from setbacks faced in the projects, the platform has incorporated a dedicated ‘Lessons Learnt’ field in the submission form, which encourages contributors to document their experiences. 

“We recognised these ‘less polished’ experiences often contain the most valuable insights for the healthcare community,” he added. 

Global ambitions 

Prof Wong shared that the platform development is guided by a Steering Committee involving not only the local public agencies mentioned above - but also academia, private healthcare institutions, and even overseas representatives from the United Kingdom and Thailand.  

“This points to the global potential that CHILD has,” he explained. 

The platform was recently recognised by three healthcare professional boards, including the Singapore Nursing Board, Singapore Pharmacy Council and the Allied Health Professional Professions Council. 

What this means is that the platform can be used as a professional development resource, which allows healthcare professionals to earn their Continuing Professional Education (CPE) points through self-directed learning. 

To further drive adoption, the CHI team behind the platform has also been actively engaging senior leadership in healthcare institutions to secure their support for user participation on the platform.  

The team first rolled out the Beta version on March 28.  

“The Beta version lets our Knowledge Ambassadors from all three clusters, MOH and AIC, as well as identified content providers such as Communities of Practice (CoP) leads to pre-populate content on CHILD.  

“We [have] incorporated valuable feedback from our Beta users to ensure a smooth transition into wider implementation.”