President
Dr WU Wing Yee Clara
Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine
Dear Fellows and Trainees,
It is my honour and pleasure to serve as the President of the Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine with effect from October 2020. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Axel Siu, our immediate past president, and all the past presidents who have established an excellent foundation for the College and continuously led us to success through years.
Emerging since early this year, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect each of us and the communities we live in. Throughout this difficult time, our fellows and trainees have never stopped working for patients and have contributed incredible support to local disease control efforts. Yet this pandemic has created immense stress for us. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, EM physicians already faced burnout more frequently than other specialties due to the job nature. Now the pandemic is presenting us with even greater stress from social distancing and interruption of the normal routine, which are very likely to exacerbate existing levels of burnout and other psychological issues.
It is therefore important for us to improve the physician’s wellbeing by building an environment that is satisfying and supportive to our colleagues. Recent research studies highlight that the opportunity to meet in groups with fellow physicians to discuss important issues can be a potent tool to decrease burnout, depression and anxiety. In this connection, more resources will be devoted in this respect so that our fellows and trainees can share, socialize, get connected and render our support to others.
Professional training is another aspect that is adversely impacted by COVID-19 as most training modules are either postponed or even suspended. The College is dedicated to providing alternative ways for professional training during this difficult time. One of the key challenges in training is to provide effective modules so that our colleagues feel valued and supported in the roles they undertake. We will strive to develop more comprehensive training programmes for our fellows and trainees which aim at maintaining our professionalism, cross-disciplinary learning and developing subspecialties in Emergency Medicine.
The College will continue to support EM research in Hong Kong and we will promote research to a wider scope of EM Physicians. Research and innovation are cornerstones to further improvement in our profession and I am sure our College’s fellows and trainees will play a crucial role in this.
The work of the College has expanded significantly over the past years and I am grateful to all the fellows and trainees who have contributed their time in helping to drive our standards higher. It is not uncommon to encounter various challenges in our careers as EM physicians. I hope our College can be a partner to you, as new fellows and trainees, to face these challenges, be it now or in the future.
I am excited about the momentum we are creating to address the growing need from EM physicians. On behalf of the College, I sincerely welcome you to join our family. Thank you for all your ongoing support to the College so that we can go from strength to strength– it is much appreciated!
Dr Clara Wu
October 2020