Leader with magnetic personality keeps top team together

Dr Yan Wing-wa
Chief of Service (Intensive Care Unit)
Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital

One of the outstanding staff of the year – Dr Yan Wing-wa is a leader with magnetic personality. Dr Yan started his career at Princess Margaret Hospital in 1986 and worked there until 2004 when he joined Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital (PYNEH) as the Chief of Service of Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Over the years, Dr Yan has been awarded on multiple occasions as an individual and as part of a team. For instance, his team received the HA Merit Team Award in 2016 for their ICU Family Satisfaction Enhancement Programme.

It is the mission of a leader to keep the team together – a task that is easier said than done. But Dr Yan made it possible as the Chief of Service. The affable leader strives to establish a harmonious working environment and his approachable character makes his colleague ready to open up to him. “I believe a friendly relationship with colleagues helps build a strong team. Only when the team is united will my co-workers be ready to share their thoughts with me and accept my opinions.”

The interview was conducted in a handover meeting between the morning and afternoon shifts held by Dr Yan, during which everyone actively reported the updates of patients. Dr Yan explains, “The condition of patients in the ICU can fluctuate in seconds. Therefore, communication and understanding are critical to ensuring the best treatment for patients. Handover meetings are thus held every morning and afternoon. To enhance service quality, a sharing session has been added to the morning meeting in recent years, when young doctors are asked to share a medical article and answer questions from the floor.”

The prevalence of swine flu in 2009 is one of the most unforgettable incidents Dr Yan recollects. Dr Yan and his team tried to borrow an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation device to treat patients with lung failure. As a result, over 10 patients had their lives saved between October 2009 and August 2010 and the practice was subsequently adopted in other hospitals.

Moreover, Dr Yan and his colleagues have been urging that a hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) chamber to be installed to treat patients with decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, diabetic wound, necrotising fasciitis and avascular necrosis due to radiotherapy and improve their conditions. Dr Yan’s wish is fulfilled this year as the first HBOT chamber is installed in PYNEH. The facility will be brought into service later this year after testing.