When the COVID-19 outbreak first occurred, we tweaked our department workflows to cope with the various demands of our practice and the pandemic. When Singapore’s Multi-ministry Taskforce on COVID-19 deemed that it was safe to begin reopening the economy in 3 phases,3,4 our department adopted a gradual resumption of otolaryngology services with a vigilant stance. Our Otorhinolaryngology Department provides outpatient and inpatient ENT (ear, nose and throat) services to both Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and National Centre of Infectious Diseases (NCID), where NCID plays a key role in Singapore’s COVID-19 management. We highlight our experience in the following 6 domains when we resumed services after a national lockdown: (1) clinical work, (2) education, (3) research, (4) safety of patients and staff, (5) morale of staff and (6) pandemic frontline work (Table 1).
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