The successful, rapid transition to a new model of graduate medical education in Singapore.

Graduate medical education (GME) in Singapore recently underwent major reform (2009-2012), leading to accreditation of residency programs by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-International (ACGME-I) within two years of the initial commitment to change. The main aims of the reforms were to implement best practices in GME, to provide better support structures for program administration, and to bring all specialty training under one administrative umbrella. The authors outline the historic development of GME in Singapore, the complexities of the model in place immediately prior to ACGME-I accreditation, and the difficulties addressed by the proposed changes, leading to a description of implementation efforts at the National University Hospital of Singapore, a university-affiliated academic medical center.

Motivation, study habits, and expectations of medical students in Singapore.

Objectives: To determine the motivation and incentives in education, learning experience and teaching techniques, and expectations about future careers among medical students from a multi-ethnic Asian country.

Methods: Pre-validated questionnaire-based survey with stratified random sampling among medical students. The questionnaire combined qualitative responses with semi-quantitative measures of available alternatives.