MOH GP Competitive Appointment Exam key terms

Singapore's national programme that organises care for stable chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and lipid disorders into structured, team-based primary care with scheduled reviews, goal setting and recall systems.

Singapore's national preventive care strategy launched in 2023, enrolling residents with a chosen primary care clinic and a family doctor to deliver personalised health plans, preventive screening and lifestyle support.

A personalised, agreed record created under Healthier SG covering the patient's goals, screening status, vaccinations, lifestyle targets and planned reviews, reviewed and updated at each scheduled preventive visit.

A means-tested subsidy scheme that lets eligible Singapore residents pay reduced rates for specified primary care consultations, chronic disease care and selected screenings at participating private clinics.

A mandatory national medical savings account funded by employer and employee contributions, usable for specified outpatient, chronic disease, screening and hospital expenses subject to withdrawal limits and rules.

A universal national health insurance scheme covering large hospital bills and selected costly outpatient treatments, with deductibles and co-insurance, automatically enrolling all Singapore residents.

Enhanced outpatient, chronic disease and screening subsidies plus MediSave top-ups granted to older Singaporeans in recognition of their contributions, applied automatically based on age and citizenship records.

Groups of private general practitioner clinics that pool resources to deliver team-based chronic disease and preventive care, supported by nurse coordinators and shared records, under MOH funding arrangements.

A cross-institution electronic health record allowing hospitals, polyclinics and general practitioners to view a patient's diagnoses, medications, allergies and results, supporting safe continuity of care.

A structured process of comparing a patient's full medication list across sources and settings to identify omissions, duplications and interactions, then documenting and communicating an accurate reconciled list.

The concurrent use of multiple medicines, often five or more, which raises the risk of interactions, adverse effects and adherence problems and warrants periodic structured review.

The planned, supervised withdrawal or dose reduction of medicines that no longer provide benefit or now cause harm, undertaken with the patient after weighing goals of care and risks.

A collaborative conversation in which the clinician explains options, benefits and harms and the patient's values and preferences are elicited, leading to an agreed care decision rather than a unilateral instruction.

A patient's voluntary agreement to an investigation or treatment after receiving and understanding material information about its purpose, benefits, alternatives and risks, documented appropriately and revisable at any time.

Singapore legislation setting out a functional test of decision-making capacity and allowing lasting powers of attorney, so clinicians assess capacity for the specific decision rather than by diagnosis alone.

A legal instrument by which a person aged 21 or older appoints a trusted donee to make specified personal welfare and property decisions if they later lose mental capacity, registered with the Public Guardian.

A voluntary, ongoing conversation in which a person records values, goals and preferences for future care, shared with family and clinicians so that decisions can be guided if the person loses capacity.

An organised register plus scheduled prompts by letter, message or phone that identifies patients due for chronic disease reviews, screening or vaccination and tracks whether they attended.

The systematic invitation of eligible individuals for recommended screening at defined intervals, with follow-up of abnormal results and documentation of declined or overdue tests.

The measurable properties of a screening test, chiefly sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and likelihood ratios, which determine how results should be interpreted in a given population.

The estimated likelihood that a patient has a condition before a test is performed, based on history, examination and prevalence, which strongly influences how a test result changes management.

A test result indicating disease when none is present, which generates anxiety, unnecessary investigation and cost, and whose likelihood rises when screening low-prevalence populations.

The number of patients who must receive an intervention for one additional person to benefit, calculated as the reciprocal of the absolute risk reduction and used to weigh benefit against harm.

The arithmetic difference in event rates between control and treatment groups, expressed as a percentage or proportion, and the basis for communicating benefit more honestly than relative risk figures.

The integration of best available research evidence, clinical expertise and patient values and circumstances when making decisions, rather than reliance on habit or single studies alone.

Systematically developed statements, often issued by national bodies, that recommend care for defined conditions and should be applied with judgement to the individual patient's context and preferences.

Specific history or examination features that raise the probability of serious disease and mandate urgent investigation, referral or safety-netting rather than routine reassurance.

The process of explaining to a patient which symptoms or timelines should prompt return, how to seek help urgently, and what the clinician will do to follow up pending results.

A structured clinical communication stating the reason for referral, relevant history, examination findings, investigations, medications and specific questions, enabling safe transfer of care.

An abnormality discovered during investigation for an unrelated reason, which requires a documented plan for further assessment or explanation to avoid both over-investigation and missed disease.

Coordinated actions promoting appropriate antibiotic selection, dose and duration, including avoiding antibiotics for viral illness and using delayed prescriptions where safe, to limit resistance and adverse effects.

An arrangement in which a patient is given or may collect an antibiotic only if symptoms do not improve within a stated period, reducing unnecessary antibiotic use while preserving access.

A disease that clinicians are legally required to report to the national public health authority within a specified timeframe so that surveillance, contact tracing and control measures can be activated.

The statutory process of informing the Ministry of Health of suspected or confirmed cases of specified diseases, with required patient and clinical details, within the mandated time and by approved channels.

The issuing of statutory documents such as medical certificates, death certificates and fitness-to-work or fitness-to-drive statements, which must be accurate, timely and compliant with legal requirements.

The delivery of clinical care at a distance using video or other communication technology, subject to requirements on identity verification, documentation, prescribing limits and escalation to in-person assessment.

The limits on the clinician-patient relationship that protect trust and prevent exploitation, covering gifts, dual relationships, personal disclosure, social media contact and financial or sexual impropriety.

The professional and legal duty to protect patient health information from unauthorised disclosure, subject to defined exceptions such as consent, statutory reporting and serious risk to others.

Singapore legislation governing the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal data, including health information, requiring consent, purpose limitation and reasonable security safeguards.