PUReHealth Awards Student Orientation Held

 News  
Feb 122012
 

Manila, Philippines – Some 100 health and computer science students and faculty from different campuses in Luzon flocked to attend the Philippine Undergraduate Research on eHealth (PUReHealth) Awards Student Orientation held at the BSLR-East, University of the Philippines (UP) Manila College of Medicine  last February 11.

Students, accompanied by their research advisers, learned the basics of eHealth in preparation for the upcoming PUReHealth Awards, the first national undergraduate research competition on eHealth. The student orientation, spearheaded by the UP Manila National Telehealth Center (NTHC), was held to help students in developing their research entry to the said contest.

Dr. Gene Nisperos, NTHC Field Operations Officer talk on the building blocks of health systems in the country. He enlightened students how eHealth could be a potent tool in solving health problems.

eHealth experts of NTHC gave lectures on how technology could aid in solving health problems of the country. Dr. Gene Nisperos, NTHC Research Associate discussed the building blocks of health systems ending with Nora Aunor’s “Walang himala” tagline which emphasized every individual’s role on solving the health care problem of the Philippines. The orientation also showcased NTHC’ experience in eMedicine, eRecords, eLearning and Interactive Media for Health. Dr. Alvin Marcelo, former NTHC director and current PhilHealth Chief Information Officer also graced the event as speaker on possible careers on eHealth.

During the open forum, most of the students asked on the legal and ethical concerns in dealing with confidentiality of patient information when using eHealth technologies. Questions on the readiness of the Philippines in adopting health information technology were also raised.

Students were also joined by their research faculty.

The panelists challenged the students to be creative in developing their entries, especially in thinking of research topics and dealing with the problems that come alongside the research process. On March 3, NTHC will gather students for a web-based seminar (webinar) session, as part of efforts to further their learning on eHealth. This will also help them develop their research ideas and clarify existing eHealth innovations with NTHC eHealth experts. Dr. Ada Lyn Yao, Coordinator for Capacity building initiatives of NTHC said that the webinar will also be recorded and will be available to registered participants who will miss the session.
Aside from this activity, a series of topic queries and consultations will also be held in coordination with NTHC experts to guide students as they develop their study.

Students and faculty from Lyceum of the Philippines Batangas, Mapua Institute of Technology, Adamson University, Manila Central University, St. Paul University-Manila, De La Salle University-Manila, Ateneo de Manila University, UP Diliman and UP Manila participated in the activity.

PUReHealth Awards is the first national research competition on eHealth

Doctors to the Barrios Equipped with eHealth & Telemedicine Skills

 News  
Jun 032011
 

DTTB from Quezon tries one of the eHealth tools during the PM hands-on session.

90 Doctors-to-the-Barrios (DTTB) and Municipal Health Officers (MHO) from remote rural areas all over the country attended the Certification Course on eHealth & Telemedicine last June 1-2 at Lancaster Hotel Manila . The training was conducted in partnership with UP Manila National Telehealth Center (NTHC) and the Department of Health (DOH).

The morning session of the training, started as Dr. Portia Fernandez-Marcelo, director of the Center discusses “Ethical principles governing the use of Health Informatics, eHealth & Telemedicine and the Challenges of our Health Information System” on the first day of the training.

The training aimed to equip DTTBs and MHOs on using available technology on the Internet to better formulate clinical decisions and delivery of public health care. In the afternoon, five simultaneous sessions with 20 participants per group, were conducted. Following are the activities in the divided session:0

  • Sending medical referrals using short messaging service(SMS) through FrontlineSMS
  • Sending images and referrals using email through iPath
  • Sending telereferrals through email using Mail2Mediline
  • Sending regular routine reporting of health data via SMSusing FrontlineSMS
  • Sending x-ray and dermatologic images for referral to medical specialists at PGH

On the second day of the training a series of discussions for the doctors’ Continuing Medical Education were conducted. Dr. Homer Co, clinical expert who answers telereferrals for Internal Medicine discussed Hypertension and Diabetes an Evidence-Based Approach. Dr. Maria Cecilla Lim, MedicoLegal clinical expert, talked on Managing Medicolegal Cases. Dr. Cecille Maramba-Lazarte, presented an interesting report on Rationale Antibiotics Use in Pediatrics Immunization. Lastly, Dr. Belen F. Dofitas, clinical expert who answers referrals for Dermatology, gave updates in Dermatology and shared her valuable experience as a Teledermatologist.