Program Overview

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Graduate Diploma in Palliative Medicine Programme

The Graduate Diploma in Palliative Medicine (GDPM) Programme is offered by the Division of Graduate Medical Studies (DGMS), NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, in collaboration with the Chapter of Palliative Medicine Physicians (CPMP). The Programme aims to train practicing doctors, especially family physicians, to be competent and confident in managing patients who require palliative care in the clinic and in the home setting.

Programme Overview

The Programme is also relevant to family physicians working in hospices, nursing homes, community hospitals, and home medical services, and to non-specialist doctors and specialists in other disciplines who may be interested in palliative care. This is a ten-month part-time Programme designed for a busy physician interested to deepen his/her knowledge and clinical skills in palliative medicine. The curriculum covers the breadth of palliative care, including principles of palliative care, symptom management, the psychosocial dimension, communications, ethical and legal issues as well as practical procedures.

Programme Components

• A. Programme Courses: The Programme consists of 6 Courses:
  • Course 1: Introduction to Palliative Care
  • Course 2: Symptom Management in Palliative Care I
  • Course 3: Symptom Management in Palliative Care II
  • Course 4: Psychiatry, Psychosocial Care & Spiritual Issues in Palliative Care
  • Course 5: Communication and Ethical Issues
  • Course 6: Practices of Palliative Medicine
• B. Saturday Seminars & Group Tutorials: There are 3 Saturday afternoon sessions per 1.5-month Course. Each session consists of 2 hours of seminar and 2 hours of group tutorial. In total, there are 18 Saturday afternoon sessions in the whole Programme.
• C. Clinical Attachment: There will be a clinical attachment of 8 hours (one full day) per Course during office hours. In total, there will be 6 full days of clinical attachment per student.

Assessment / Examination

A candidate will be assessed in the following way:

Examination Format	Weighting
End-of-Course Examination	30%
Case Report	10%
Final Examination	60%
Total	100%

• End-of-Course Examination (30%): An online examination is held at the end of each Course.
• Case Report (10%): Each student is required to submit one case report with an evidence-based literature review of a patient with palliative care needs.
• Final Examination (60%): To be eligible for the Final Examination, each student must fulfil the following criteria:
  • completed all 6 Courses
  • achieved at least 75% attendance rate for all Saturday sessions
  • achieved a “Pass” in the case report

Intake Date

The Programme commences in August annually and subject to minimum uptake of 20 students. The maximum capacity for each intake is 30 students.

Admission

Eligibility Criteria

• Hold a recognised basic medical degree.
• Full or conditional registration with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC); doctors with temporary registration with SMC must support their applications with a letter of recommendation from their Head of Department (HOD).
• Possess a valid Singapore Medical Council (SMC) Practising Certificate.
• Have a minimum 1 year(s) of clinical experience post-graduation prior to the start of the programme and must continue to work in Singapore throughout the entire duration of the programme.

Application

Applicants are required to submit an online application via Graduate Admission System (GDA3) by the stipulated closing date. A completed application would have fulfilled the following:

• All required fields are accurately filled, and all supporting documents are uploaded into the system.
• The non-refundable application fee payment is successful and supported by Tax Invoice (also known as the receipt), which is downloadable from the system.

The following documents must be submitted together with your application:

• Recent passport-sized photograph
• A copy of one’s CV (employment history; in ascending order)
• Certified true copy / scanned coloured copy of the following documents:
  • Identification documents
  • Recognised basic medical degree certificate
  • Valid practising certificate
  • Certificates of other medical qualifications, where applicable.
  • English Language Proficiency Test scores, where applicable.

Fees

Programme Fees

Description	Fee (SGD)
Application fee	87.20
Examination / Programme Fee	10,392.80

Resit Fees

• Re-sit Singular session fee: 180.00
• Re-Course fee: 1,510.00
• Re-Marking of case report fee: 930.00
• Re-take of final examination fee: 1,390.00

Student Miscellaneous Fees

Description	Fee (SGD)
Miscellaneous Student Fee	137.50 per semester for 2 semesters

Funding

• Agency for Integrated Care (AIC)'s Community Care Manpower Development Awards (CCMDA).
• This programme is eligible for the Skillsfuture Credit (SFC) scheme.

Withdrawal

Deferment Policy

Students who wish to defer will need to write to DGMS, citing the reason for deferment and providing supporting evidence where applicable after acceptance of placement.

Withdrawal Policy

• All withdrawal and refund requests will be subjected to 10% administrative charges capped at SGD500.00.
• All requests must be submitted within 14 calendar days from the last day of Examination end date or before the programme commencement date, where applicable.
• Supporting documents must be submitted via email in all cases after submission of the online request.
• The Division will generally consider providing refunds to candidates under the following circumstances:
  • Medical
  • Pregnancy
  • Involvement in an accident, e.g. victim of crime, accident or disaster
  • Compassionate grounds
• Requests for refund under the following reasons will not be considered:
  • Lack of preparedness or readiness for the Examination/Programme for which the candidate/student has enrolled.
  • Failure to arrange time away from work.
  • Inability to secure a visa or other travel documents required to attend the Examination/Programme.