As a young doctor, Dr Bok Chek Wai worked with a senior rehabilitation medicine specialist who would become his mentor and inspiration to enter the field.
This story was first published in Singapore Health, May-Jun 2016 issue.
As a young doctor, Dr Bok Chek Wai worked with a senior rehabilitation medicine specialist who would become his mentor and inspiration to enter the field.
Today, Dr Bok hopes he too can spark a similar desire among his juniors to enter the field.
Noting that rehab medicine is a speciality that is little known, he wants to get the message out that it is “an important part of the whole medical spectrum”, said Dr Bok, Senior Consultant and Head, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Singapore General Hospital (SGH). And in view of Singapore’s ageing population and a corresponding rise in chronic diseases, rehab medicine will play an “increasingly important” role in health care, he added.
Rehab medicine deals very much with how a patient’s daily functions, strength and mobility are affected after suffering a debilitating disease such as stroke or an accident. Rehab medicine specialists try to get patients back on their feet and into society at large.
Doctors must offer hope to patients and their families, but they also have to provide a healthy dose of reality.
Seeing his patients recover well and being happy makes him feel good about going to work every day – “it sounds very cliched but it’s true” – but he also recognises that rehab med isn’t a bed of roses.
“Trying to help patients and their families figure out the best way forward, getting to grips with their illness and how to cope can be stressful for both patients and health care professionals. Sometimes, they direct their anger (over the situation) at us,” Dr Bok said.
“We have to face such situations and deal with them. We understand that they’ve just had a very severe illness and are trying to cope with it.”
Doctors must offer hope to patients and their families, but they also have to provide “a healthy dose of reality”. “It won’t help patients if you are just a cheer-leader, saying yes, yes, you can do better, everything is good, without telling them what they should expect, what they can and cannot do,” he said.
"I saw the way [Prof Lim] treated patients and their family members...[he] was always kind and thoughtful...offering help in a quiet, humble manner."
- Dr Bok Chek Wai, Senior Consultant and Head, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Singapore General Hospital
He tries to emulate his mentor, Associate Professor Peter Lim, a senior consultant and member of his team.
“When I accompanied him on ward rounds as a young trainee, I saw the way he treated patients and their family members,” said Dr Bok. Prof Lim was always kind and thoughtful towards patients and staff alike, offering help in a quiet, humble manner, he added.
Dr Bok is also Programme Director for SingHealth’s Senior Resident Rehabilitation Programme, teaches at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Duke-NUS Medical School, and sits on planning committees for the future Sengkang Hospital and SGH’s Outram Community Hospital.
Despite his busy schedule, he still finds time a couple of times a week to run for fun and to relax.
A friendly man with a self-deprecating sense of humour, Dr Bok enjoys playing video games and cooking – albeit for himself for now.
“I tell my friends my cooking isn’t ready for prime time yet!” he said.
