Medical students at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have a new home that accommodates both classroom learning and clinical experience with “patients” under one roof.
Unveiled yesterday, the new campus for the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Novena has a centre that simulates real-life clinical scenarios, as well as learning spaces that emphasise team-based learning.
Speaking about the “unique learning environment”, NTU president Professor Bertil Andersson said: “This not only helps transition and integrate students into the medical scene, but also nurtures a generation of doctors well-versed in using the latest technologies to solve tomorrow’s healthcare issues.”
The new 20-storey Clinical Sciences Building in Mandalay Road, near Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), has more than 40,000 sq m space equipped with cutting-edge technologies and facilities.
They are designed to support NTU’s “flipped classroom pedagogy”, which encourages self-directed and team-based learning. For instance, seating in the learning studio is clustered, and alcoves let students view LED screens in groups in the Anatomy Learning Centre.
SPECIMENS
That centre has more than 170 pathological specimens donated by NTU’s partner, Imperial College London, and an Anatomage Table, a human-sized virtual operating table.
The building’s Centre for Clinical Simulation has a simulated ward, practical skills lab and communication suite, where students can practise medical skills in simulated scenarios – for instance, by suturing prosthetic wounds on simulated patients.
The new campus, in use since January, and the Experimental Medicine Building at NTU’s main campus, make up the dual campus of the medical school, which opened in 2013 and now has 328 students.
Students will travel between campuses by shuttle bus, and are also attached to hospitals and clinics around Singapore.
The new building also has a gym, dance studio, 500-seat auditorium and music room.
First-year student Nadia Nasuha Mohammad Nazri, 19, particularly likes the circular learning studio: “It’s a nice place where we have team-based learning. The round tables facilitate discussions.”
The school has accepted 120 students for the next academic year starting in August, and NTU plans to expand its cohort size to 150 within the next three years.
The new building, linked to TTSH’s upcoming wing via a skybridge, is part of Health City Novena, Singapore’s biggest healthcare complex to be ready in 2030.
tohwenli@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on March 3, 2017.
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