Volume 50, Number 12
December 2021

Cancer is a pervasive global problem with tremendous impact on patients and healthcare utilisation. A Singapore study conducted a retrospective audit of active cancer patients presenting to the emergency department with subsequent admission. The findings revealed that these short admissions have low resource needs and may be potentially managed without inpatient admission.

Results of the study can potentially guide efforts to develop clinical protocols for greater ambulatory management, enhanced triage of cancer patients, improved supportive and palliative service inclusive of symptom management and physical therapy, and support for caregivers towards proactive multicomponent interventions and sustainable healthcare.

The Annals: Welcoming the future of Medicine

What started as a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital city of China’s Hubei Province, in December 2019, has since evolved into a pandemic with devastating consequences to health and livelihoods.1 Hardly a day passes without the term COVID-19, the disease caused by the severe acute...

The case for better hospitalisation selection in cancer patients

Public hospital occupancy rates and resource utilisation in Singapore are perennially high. In the last 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant strain on public healthcare systems to balance the demands of the pandemic and usual medical care. There is little literature detailing emergency department (ED)...

Characteristics of unplanned hospitalisations among cancer patients in Singapore

Cancer is a pervasive global problem with growing healthcare utilisation and costs.1-3 This situation is similar in Singapore where cancer incidence is on the rise and accounts for nearly 30% of total population mortality.4,5 Singapore data suggests that cancer patients accounted for 13% of total healthcare costs in 2016,...

Multimodal prehabilitation before major abdominal surgery: A retrospective study

Ageing is one of the biggest public health concerns of the 21st century, presenting a challenge to the practice of medicine globally. As the Singapore population ages, research is needed to refine our knowledge in the care of older persons and the frail, so that better methods of care...

Noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features and the risk of malignancy in thyroid cytology: Data from Singapore

As only 5–10% of thyroid nodules harbour malignancy, fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is important in triaging nodules requiring surgical excision from nodules that may be observed.1,2 This approach allows risk stratification that can reduce the rate of benign lesion removal by diagnostic lobectomies3 and its associated postoperative morbidity.4 However, thyroid...

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