Research Locale

The study will be conducted at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, a public

1,200-bed capacity hospital located in Cebu, Philippines. It is a general tertiary medical

center, as well as a teaching and training medical facility owned by the Philippine

Government. The hospital was formally established in 1913, in aims to provide health

care services that are available, affordable, accessible and acceptable to all regardless

of social status.

Its clientele consists of patients belonging to low-income and middle- income

group. There are three Obstetric (OB) wards for intrapartum and postpartum patients

namely, Low Risk Unit, High Risk Unit and Philhealth Ward – Ward II. The Low Risk

Unit attend to OB cases which are considered normal pregnancy, labor and delivery

without any complications. The High Risk Unit attends to OB cases which are

considered normal deliveries but with complications such as hypertension, asthma,

heart diseases as well as to patients who were post caesarean deliveries. The Ward II

unit attends to patients admitted with Philhealth which cases that may under Low Risk

Unit and High Risk Unit.

As a tertiary care institution, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center also offers

Specialty and Subspecialties under the different clinical departments. These Specialty

and Subspecialties include the Genereal Surgery, Neuro-Surgery, Uro-Surgery, Internal

Medicine, Gynecology, Orthopedics, Ortorhinolaryngology, Opthalmology,

Anethesiology, Pathology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Plastic and Recostructive Surgery,

Emergency Medicine , Family Medicine and Pediatrics , Rehabilitation Medicine

Department, Dental Services and the National Voluntary Blood Services Program.
Research Environment

The study was conducted at Gov. William Villegas Memorial Hospital

(GWVMH). GWVMH is a public primary 50 – bed hospital, as well as a teaching

and training facility for nurses and affiliating students. GWVMH is in Cadre,

Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.

Its clientele consists of patients belonging to the low-income group. There

are male and female medical wards. The medical wards attend to cases such as

hypertension, asthma, heart diseases, pneumonia, and other conditions requiring

medical attention.

As a primary care institution, GWVMH also offers the following services:

Operating Room Services (minor surgeries), Ob-Gyne, Pediatrics, Pathology

(Laboratory), Emergency Services, Out Patient Services, and Training Programs.

Training programs for nurses and affiliated students are also offered in all

departments (See Appendix C for the location map).