The Singapore Health Services (abbreviated as SingHealth) is the largest healthcare centre in Singapore to improve public health and encourage the public to maintain healthy lifestyles. Singhealth offers over 40 clinical specialties through a network of national specialty centres, acute hospitals, polyclinics and community hospitals.

Our group was assigned to collect information on why polyclinics were built; whether they replaced some other medical community service center; the overall healthcare plan for screening and treatment of health problems and the positioning of polyclinics in this plan; the types of services available and the costs of these services; the demographic that the polyclinics were designed to serve; any updates to the role of these polyclinics; interesting stories from those who worked in polyclinics and to provide suggestions to enhance the experience of being in a polyclinic and present this information to visitors of the polyclinic and general public. Thus, we decided to film a documentary on the Role of Polyclinics in Healthcare. However, due to patient confidentiality issues we decided to do a website to present this information and film short clips of some interesting stories.

First of all, we made a timeline to plan our visits for interviews, discussions in the library, video editing and for meeting our mentor. This was our tentative timeline:

–1^st week

•Google Doc for information to research about.

–National Archives and Google

–KIV interview anyone who may know. Interview questions to be planned.

»Part 1 – interesting stories and history of Polyclinics

»Part 2 – suggestions to enhance experience

•Plan filming (for documentary)

–2^nd week

•Part 2 – suggestions to enhance experience

•Interview other clinics’ staff

•Filming

–3^rd week

•Filming and editing – includes voice over and newscaster etc.

–Deliverable: a video file (after deliberation, deliverable is now a website with short video clips)

I think that before we attempt any task we should always plan ahead and have a timeline so that everyone in the group is clear about when the deadlines are and we can have sufficient time to produce quality work. Thankfully we did so because when we met with unforeseen circumstances such as our video camera malfunctioning, and the Corona-virus, we still had enough time to come up with an alternative plan to film our videos in school instead. Thus we have decided to present our research and interview answers by:

• website
• 2 video clips

Firstly, we started out by visiting the library to find books related to Singapore's healthcare scene as well as articles from national archives but we did not find much useful information but we found some old photographs of clinics and nurse uniforms. Using the information we collected, we created a google document to input the information.

Secondly, we drafted interview questions for both staff and patients. We came up with these questions by considering multiple perspectives so that our interviewees can give us comprehensive and insightful answers:

• How is your (working) experience in a polyclinic?

您在诊所的工作经验如何?

• Are you regulars at this polyclinic?

你常常会来到这个诊所吗

• What is your age group? (Eg. 20-25, 25-30, 30-35 etc)
• why do you think polyclinics are important?

您认为这些诊所 有什么意义/很重要吗?

• Have you visited a GP(全科医生) (私人) before? If so, why do you still choose to come to polyclinics?
• Which is the best polyclinic you have visited? And what makes it better than others?

您认为哪一个诊所的设施最好? 好在哪里?

• What difficulties/issues/inconveniences have you encountered while in a polyclinic?

你在诊所里是否有遇到什么困难或者有什么不方便的地方？

• What are some improvements in the use of space in the polyclinic? What would you change in this polyclinic?

您认为这个诊所还有哪些可以进步的空间吗?

• What are some interesting stories or memorable experiences u had in a polyclinic?

您在诊所看诊/工作时有没有一些精彩/难忘的经验? 可以分享一下吗?

• How have polyclinics changed over the years? how has patients attitude changed?

你觉得现在的诊所跟以前的诊所有什么变化？你认为现在的患者们的态度跟以前的患者们有什么不一样？

• Do you think the cost of polyclinics are reasonable? why/why not?

您认为看诊的价格合理吗? 为什么?

• Do you think polyclinics are accessible? why/why not?

您认为来诊所很方便吗?为什么?

When interviewing patients, we tried to find a variety of age groups so that we can hear responses from people with different backgrounds. For staff, we tried to look for staff who have been working in polyclinics for more than 10 years because they would have seen how the polyclinic has changed through the years and being able to hear from them would give us a first-hand account of the stories and the history of the polyclinic.

These are some of the responses that we have collated from our interviews. For the inconveniences and issues faced, many people complained about the waiting time at polyclinics as it can take quite long. One of our interviewee also said that even though they had made an appointment with the HealthBuddy app, the waiting time was inaccurate. There’s also a lack of PMA accessibility in the polyclinic such as lack of wheelchair bases and narrow corridors. There’s a lack of seats and seating areas when the polyclinics become crowded. Sometimes, the staff provide unclear directions and instructions to the patients. Patients also need help in using the self-service kiosks, especially the elderly.

These are some suggestions that we have based on our interviews.

• Devices displaying interactive media about various health issues can be implemented such as on an Ipad or laptop so that patients can view them while waiting for their appointment to pass the time. This would also enable them to gain more insight into any health related inquiries and learn about how to better maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• The corridors or walkways could be expanded to fit more PMA users, making it more convenient and safe for them to get around as there have been many incidents of PMAs breaking glass privacy panels.
• Vending machines so that people can get coffee or snacks while waiting.
• More wheelchair bases for people with PMAs to wait for their turn, when we visited Bedok polyclinic they had wheelchair bases, but when we visited Pasir Ris polyclinic, they did not have wheelchair bases and it was difficult for them to move around.

Thirdly, we decided on our deliverable and started planning what content we should include and the layout of the website before discussing how to make it attractive to the public. For our videos, we initially thought of making it serious and life-like by filming it in the polyclinic itself. However, we thought if we made the video into a comedy it would be more attractive to the audience.

Fourthly, we edited the videos and added in the subtitles and touched up our website.

Our website consists of 5 tabs - Home, Our Stories, Contact Us, FAQs and Feedback

Firstly, I learnt that time management is very important as this project was done over a period of time, we needed to plan our time well so that we do not rush at the last minute. While we met with several difficulties along the way, we still managed to produce our deliverable because we adhered strictly to deadlines and kept each other updated on our progress.

Secondly, I learnt the importance of communication. When we went for interviews and when we did filming, not all of us were present as some fell sick and some had to attend bridging lessons in school hence we needed to communicate to find alternative ways and to accommodate each other's schedules. Especially when we did our first attempt at filming in the polyclinic, we only had 45 minutes to finish filming as the staff needed to close the clinic hence we had to be clear in our instructions and ensure we all understood the concept of the videos.

Thirdly, I learnt that we need to be understanding towards the staff who provide service to us. While we may complain of the long waiting times or lack of attention from staff, I think we should understand that their job is not easy, having to multitask so many things as they are really trying their best to do their job well, hence we should treat them with proper respect and not lose our temper at them especially so for the younger generation who tend to be more impatient with the slightest inconvenience.

Firstly, I realized that patients' attitudes and polyclinics have changed a lot over the years. In the past, patients will not challenge the staff words and the staff were able to handle them. Now, patients are more demanding in terms of waiting time and service provided. They also try to use their limited knowledge and challenge the doctors’ diagnosis by using Google. Patients would also patiently wait for their turn to come in the past, but patients are now more impatient and expect to be served upon arrival. Some elderly patients will come very early before their appointment and will end up being angry that they have to wait for very long. The costs for consultation and medicine used to only be about 50 cents. However, it costs more now at $13.20 excluding medication fees.

The clinics used to operate as MCHs which are Maternal and Child Health clinics and OPDs which are Outpatient Dispensaries. But now, they are collectively known as polyclinics.

Secondly, I discovered that there are still patients who still do not forget to show their appreciation towards the staff who help them at the polyclinics. For example, sometimes patients would give the nurses gifts and the nurses will accept them if its value does not exceed a certain monetary value or else it will be donated to organization, but if the gift is perishable, the nurses would share it with the rest of the staff. I think that besides giving gifts, any gesture, even a simple "thank you" would go a long way and we should show our appreciation to those who help us.

I think that this experience has taught me to look beyond the surface and not assume what we see as the reality. When we were taken on a tour to see how the pharmacy worked, it was really hectic and everyone was busy carrying out their own tasks. Such a sight is not shown to the public but i can see that everyone is doing their best. Hence, we should not be too quick to assume that not being served on time is due to negligence or lack of hindsight on the staff's part as behind the scenes there is a lot of hard work and focus involved.