Application for TTSH, Singapore

During the looong holiday break last week, I got an e-mail from a former co-resident/colleague regarding a job opening in a hospital in Singapore as a medical officer. Without doing any research on what a medical officer does in Singapore, I gave my resume to the HR head of the hospital by e-mail and kept my fingers crossed.

After 2 days, I received a reply from the HR head inviting me for an interview in a 5-star hotel in Metro Manila on a sunday afternoon. Coincidentally, it was the same day as the fun run my sister & I will be joining. The email also mentioned the requirements that I should bring during the interview. The requirements were a challenge for me - since Singapore follows the British system, I hardly understood the papers/documents they would be looking into. I asked a colleague who's working in another hospital in Singapore, but she also has no idea about the requirements. I thought "Bahala na."

We met at the lobby of the hotel, proceeded into a cafe and were given sheets of paper. It was a written exam! It composed of less than 10 cases and asked regarding diagnoses, management, etc. We were informed that failure to pass the written exam means oral interview will not be conducted. I had to dig deep into my brain & remember everything that I've encountered/read/seen/observed during residency. I'm not an internist but while answering, I acted that I was.

Thankfully, I passed the written exam. I was accompanied into another room, met a top official of the hospital (who is also a physician). After less than 5 minutes of "tell me about yourself", I was shown ECG tracings & x-ray films from his laptop. WTF? I swear I was blabbing crazily. I felt like I was going through the Oral Exams already.

Finally, he asked me if I had enough experience/exposure with Geriatric Medicine. I told him that I don't have enough exposure since we only have 1 month rotation in Geriatric, and most patients I dealt with consulted for refill of their maintenance medications. Yet, I'm always willing to learn.

As usual, his parting words were "Thank you for your time. We will inform you via e-mail regarding the interview." The sentences entered my left ear, and left my right ear.