MBBS 2013MMed (Anaes) 2019

Shi Hao, short notes from an aspiring shokunin職人.

About

A brief sketch.

I'm an anaesthetist from Singapore. This is where I write — occasionally — about the art and science of medicine, and share what I've found useful along the way.

Through my writing, I hope to help my juniors, surgeons, and patients understand better why I do what I do.

Outside the theatre, I think about compounding — in health, wealth, and relationships. Long horizons, small disciplines, ignore the noise in between.

Clinical interests
Patient-Centric Perioperative Care
The patient in front of you is not a case. Decisions, protocols, and small kindnesses across the whole perioperative arc.
Ambulatory & Fast-Turnover Surgery
Speed without compromise. Technique, pharmacology, and flow designed for same-day recovery.
Regional Anaesthesia
Ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks. Craft at the millimetre.
Airway Management
The skill that matters most when it matters most.
Ethos

Philosophy of practice.

My clinical practice is shaped by two Japanese ideas I return to often: shokunin 職人 — the craftsman's devotion to mastery — and shoshin 初心 — beginner's mind, held deliberately. Taken together, they describe a way of working that I find true and worth aiming at, even if I will never fully arrive.

I
The relentless pursuit of perfection.
Every list, every block, every airway is an opportunity to refine something — technique, judgement, temperament. The standard is set internally, not by what the environment tolerates. Most days the work is quiet and unremarkable. That is the point.
II
The aggregation of marginal gains.
Great anaesthesia rarely hinges on one heroic decision. It is the sum of many small ones done well — the extra moment spent on positioning, the cleaner induction, the block placed with care, the handover given fully rather than briefly. Each alone is minor. Compounded across thousands of patients, they describe a career.
III
Shoshin, held against experience.
Beginner's mind is easy at the beginning. The harder, more necessary version is holding it after years of competence — openness, curiosity, and the willingness to be wrong when expertise makes it tempting not to be.
Writing

Notes, resources, reading.

A slow-burn collection of short posts, organised in three strands: essays on the art and science of medicine, resources for juniors honing their craft in anaesthesia, and reading from medicine, philosophy, and the long conversation between them.

Read the latest posts →
Contact
Say hello.

Best reached by email. I reply when I can — usually between lists, sometimes not for a few days.

dr@chewshihao.com
Disclaimer

Views expressed here are my own and do not represent my employer or any institution I'm affiliated with. Nothing on this site constitutes medical advice — for clinical concerns, please consult a qualified clinician who knows your case. All content © Shi Hao unless stated otherwise; please do not reproduce without permission.