THE Covid-19 global pandemic has seen the increased use of telemedicine to provide medical care to patients.
Peachy Velasco did not imagine that it would make the regular check-up of her 80-year-old father, who has a heart condition and controlled diabetes, much easier.
Velasco, who is based in Hawaii, said that telemedicine is a big help to her younger sister here in the Philippines as she and their retired police officer father no longer need to endure the heavy traffic going to the hospital.
Velasco said her father has his check-up at the hospital every three months.
“The patient stays at home and it is much safer for he will not be exposed to other patients. No long queue. No long wait,” Velasco said, adding that requests for laboratory tests and results and reading can be done online.
However, among the disadvantages, she said, is that her father is not that “techie.”
“Also, the time is limited and you have to pay more doctor’s fee,” she said.
Rose Peralta, a mother of four, agrees that telemedicine is helpful and convenient as she no longer needs to bring her children to the hospital or clinic for check-up if one of them is sick.
“Okay din lang din sa amin ang telemedicine, lalo na kung sa time na umpisa pa lang ng sakit at least makausap na ang doctor. Ma-resetahan at mapa lab test na at iwas na din sa crowded sa clinic at hospital,” [Telemedicine is good for us especially when the symptoms start showing and at least we can already consult with a doctor. We can get a prescription and have lab tests and we can avoid the crowds in the clinic and hospital],” Rose said, adding that the doctor will also advise if she really needs to bring her child for a face-to-face checkup.
Paradigm shift
MAKATI City Mayor Abigail Binay said that as early as 2011, the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) started the electronic documentation of medical records for patients under ambulatory or outpatient care.
“However, the pandemic has created a paradigm shift in how we handle patients at OsMak. We have implemented OsMak e-Consult at the height of the pandemic to attend to the medical needs of patients and prevent crowding at OsMak,” Binay said.
Moreover, she said, they were able to improve OsMak’s hospital information management system (HIMS), which gives doctors instant access to patients’ medical and diagnostic records during checkups and peer consultations to review cases.
This technological initiative, she pointed out, has complemented the OsMak e-Consult, where over 51,000 residents in 2020 consulted with their doctors without going to the hospital.
“With the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, harnessing technology in governance will certainly improve the delivery and quality of services and, at the same time, promote transparency. It will also remove the traditional boundaries between the government and the people and bring government services closer to the intended recipients,” she said.
She added: “Just like my fellow local leaders, I envision my city as a Smart City that is future-ready, with its sustained prosperity shared by all citizens and empowering them to attain their full potential.”
Challenges
“WHEN we started the digitalization of services at OsMak, we encountered two minor problems that governments and hospitals encounter when using new digital tools,” Binay recalled.
First, she said, is the adoption of new technologies.
“Our hospital staff had to undergo training and provide user-friendly health solutions to ageing employees to make it easier for them to do their work,” she said.
Cybersecurity, she also cited, is a major concern for governments, hospitals, and all organizations that store sensitive information.
“Since digitalization is related to data privacy, we ensure that medical records and patient information are safe and secure to prevent cyber attackers from hacking the system,” the mayor explained.
Binay underscored the importance of cybersecurity in government and hospital operations.
“The healthcare industry is one of the most vulnerable areas when it comes to cybersecurity threats. With patients’ personal information at stake, hospitals need to do everything they can to protect this data from hackers who would use it for their own purposes,” she said.
Safe and quality patient care
Dr. Noel M. Laxamana, Department Chair and Medical Specialist IV, Department of Family and Community Medicine of Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center in Balanga, Bataan, believes that digitalization is the way to go, especially with the implementation of the UHC Act.
“The immense contribution of health digitalization was palpably felt during the pandemic,” Dr. Laxamana said.
Examples of this, he said, included the creation of digital health declaration apps, teleconsultation services, as well as the fast transmission of health data such as RT PCR results, which swiftly assisted in isolating and navigating the patients through the referral system.
“Further, through electronic means, the mobilization of the staff in the healthcare provider network (HCPN) was quick and responsive, thereby delivering safe and quality patient care for all,” he said.
Dr. Laxamana said they are also excited and fully anticipate the implementation of a standardized electronic health record (EHR) for all Filipinos which does not only serve as a “repository of the patients’ health information but will also transform paperless transactions for financing and reimbursement of claims.”
“Some of our neighboring countries in Southeast Asia have employed the use of an EMV chip/ EMV card in storing the EHR, which digitally reads the patient’s records across all health facilities. Of course, for these situations, data privacy and confidentiality must be protected at all times,” the doctor said.
Integrated Laboratory Information System for Ilocos
MEANWHILE, officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) recently conducted an on-site visit to the Department of Health Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center (DOH-ITRMC) to assess and evaluate the existing laboratory information system and to provide for the establishment of an Integrated Laboratory Information System for Ilocos Region.
The visit was led by Miura Takashi, JICA Consultant for Laboratory Management.
Takashi said that laboratory information systems are critical to high-quality healthcare service provision and the demand for these systems is growing fast and the healthcare system must be able to meet the resulting technological and workload demands.
“Moreover, lab tests provide the majority of information for clinical decision-making which results in improved clinical outcomes for patients,” Takashi explained.
JICA through the technical cooperation project entitled, “Project for Strengthening the Philippine National Health Laboratory Cooperation Network” currently provides technical assistance to DOH with the objective of strengthening the Philippine Health Laboratory System Surveillance including detecting pathogens and response to emerging diseases.
DOH-Ilocos Regional Director Paula Paz M. Sydiongco said the fundamental role that a laboratory information system plays in a laboratory is to increase its operational efficiency by automating the workflows and eliminating the need for manually maintaining the patient’s information.
“We are hoping that JICA can help us develop and institutionalize a framework for an integrated performance system specifically for specimen referral, supply-chain management and performance management system to serve as the backbone for both public and private clinical laboratories in the region in order to achieve the objectives of Universal Health Care (UHC).”
The regional office and ITRMC also presented to JICA the laboratory network situationer, the manner of specimen transport and the current situation of the laboratory network in the Ilocos region.
During the site visit at the clinical laboratory in ITRMC, they were presented with the different laboratory process flow, including supply-chain management of laboratory supplies and reagents, participation in the quality assurance programs including laboratory assessment of water testing, and analytical toxicology sections.
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