MODULE 3 AND 4- 4D’S MODEL

REFLECTION ESSAY

Philippine Healthcare System : A documentary

- In general, the healthcare system in the Philippines is of a high quality. Medical staff in
the Philippines are highly qualified, though the facilities they work with are of a poorer
quality than those in high-end US or European healthcare institutions. Although the
Philippines’ state-funded public healthcare is overall of a good standard, it differs greatly
across rural and urban locations. In the Philippines, private healthcare is more
consistent; private facilities generally have better equipment than public ones. Because
English is widely spoken in the Philippines, there should be minimal linguistic hurdles to
receiving healthcare for expats.

Primary Health Care

- Primary health care refers to the medical care that a patient receives on the very first
interaction with any system that provides health care. This medical care is provided by a
nurse, a doctor or anybody with ideal medical practice. Nurses working in primary health
care have general medical training or have been trained to do general work in any
doctor‘s room. This medical care is provided by a nurse, a doctor or anybody with ideal
medical practice. Nurses working in primary health care have general medical training or
have been trained to do general work in any doctor‘s room.

Managing Care Secondary and Tertiary Health Care

- Medical specialists and other health professionals, who typically don’t have initial contact
with patients, provide secondary care. Some secondary care physicians do not require a
patient to have a referral from a primary care practitioner. Physical therapists, respiratory
therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and other allied health
professionals often work in secondary care.
- Patients being treated requiring a higher level of care in a hospital may be considered to
be in tertiary care. Physicians and equipment at this level are highly specialized. Tertiary
care services include such areas as cardiac surgery, cancer treatment and
management, burn treatment, plastic surgery, neurosurgery and other complicated
treatments or procedures.

Health Informatics
- Among the most common purposes served by health informatics are enabling better
collaboration and coordination among healthcare providers, streamlining medical quality
assurance processes, improving cost-efficiency in healthcare delivery and increasing
accuracy and efficiency in facility/practice management.

Philippine Health Informatics

- Health Informatics in the Philippines mentioned that there are issues that impede its
progress in the country. First, the lack of healthy human resources interested in the field.
At present, unlike in Medicine, Health Informatics is only offered, as a Master’s degree in
the University of the Philippines- Manila with the main objective is to develop innovators
in the field of Health informatics in the Philippines. With the limited number of human
resources, it is only understandable why the progress of health informatics in the country
is slow. Second, poor or lack of network infrastructure. And lastly, many decision-makers
in the health sector do not yet understand the benefits of information technology.
Because the majority of health workers are not exposed to technological advancement in
the healthcare system, the benefits are not yet known to many.