Motivation

As a group, we wanted to consolidate and organise information about this disease in a way that the general public could easily access and understand. Presenting such information on a website would not only benefit patients, but also benefit healthcare professionals. Research regarding lymphedema and its treatment options are continually being done and they can be updated quickly online.

What did we do?

We started off by creating various content for the website to provide adequate resources for patients and the general public. This included the definition of lymphedema, pathophysiology, causes, clinical features, staging, current treatment options as well as the complications of lymphedema. This information, which can be easily accessed and found on our website, provides a convenient platform for patients to learn more about the condition and encourages future research into the treatment of lymphedema.

We also wanted patients to be able to understand the treatment and subsequent management of the disease better. As such, we created videos so that patients would be able to refer to them in the comfort of their homes in the event that they cannot remember how to put on the various compression garments. We hope that through educational resources found on the website as well as videos provided, patients would be able to better care for themselves and prevent further deterioration.

We also helped in the formulation and brainstorming of the logo for Lymphedema Society Singapore.

(From top left clockwise) Medical students Leighton Teo, Nigel Sim, Chanel Lee, and Lee Zhi Yan discussing the types of content that should go on the new Lymphedema Society of Singapore website over a Zoom meeting during the circuit breaker in 2020.

Learning experiences

As medical students, learning should go above and beyond that of our classroom curriculum. This venture has provided an opportunity for us to learn more about lymphedema as well as understand the possible treatment options available.

As we embarked on this project during the circuit breaker period, we faced many challenges while attempting to complete it.

Firstly, this project is demanding as it requires us to learn and master new skills in a limited amount of time. Unlike other projects, we are required to know skill sets which were beyond our curriculum: these were video editing, video-taking and website creation. All of us had no prior experience in these areas.

Secondly, as face-to-face meetings were not possible, meetings via Zoom were conducted. These virtual meetings were not as productive as physical meetings and it was not easy to find suitable time slots for all of us to meet.

As these transitions were very new, we had to adapt ourselves to the limitations of these meetings. Zoom did not allow multiple people to speak so we decided that one person should talk at a time to ensure effective communication among the team members. Zoom also had a 30-minute time limit for each meeting and as such, we kept creating new Zoom meeting sessions after every 30 minutes.

Associate Professor Tan Bien Keem (top) from Singapore General Hospital and Associate Professor Veronique Angeli (bottom) from the Department of Immunology at NUS Medicine mentored the four students throughout the duration of this project.

Thirdly, we had to learn how to work as a team effectively and efficiently. Initially, we edited a single video together which took us more time than expected as there was no virtual platform to edit videos concurrently. After the first video was done, we decided to delegate the various roles to each member such as voice-overs, video splicing, background music sourcing, music splicing, which helped us to cut down on the amount of time spent on each video. Hence, we were able to meet the tight deadlines quickly, and also produce quality videos.

Even though this project took a lot of time and effort, we are very grateful for this opportunity as we were able to learn more about lymphedema as well as improve our skills and work effectively as a team.

Click here to view the Lymphedema Society of Singapore website.