INTRODUCTION: Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) and central nervous system (CNS) infection are two significant complications of SLE where mortality is high. Differentiating the two diseases could help deliver appropriate and timely therapeutic strategies that impact mortality in patients with SLE particularly in cases where confusions due to overlapping symptoms delay early interventions. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of SLE patients diagnosed and confined for a NPSLE at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital in Manila, Philippines, January 2015-December 2016. Informed consent was collected. CASE PRESENTATION: We report 5 cases of SLE patients (1 male; females) who presented between January 2015-December 2016 in a tertiary care hospital obtained from the SLE database of University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital Section of Rheumatology. All five patients were identified to have NPSLE with following chief complaints: (case 1: 22M) seven-day history of left-sided hemiparesis, (case 2: 22F) vomiting and generalized tonic-clonic seizures, (case 3: 32F) generalized tonic-clonic seizure; (case 4: 67F)) confusion and disorientation, (case 5: 27F) progressive headache, tinnitus, nausea and blurring of vision. All patients had low complement 3 (C3) levels and were treated with steroids, and sent home improved. The challenge of discriminating the varied clinical manifestations to the possibility of underlying CNS infections were heightened by the financial limitations of necessary diagnostics needed to identify the underlying causes. CONCLUSION: Good clinical skills and appropriate diagnostics and laboratories played an important role in the five cases presented creating a clearer clinical picture and in ruling out secondary causes thus directly channeling the management in these cases.
Research

BACKGROUND: In 2012, the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) established the Health Systems Research Management (HSRM). One of the HSRM components is increasing the research capacity of the Centers for Health Development (CHD) which is the regional office of the DOH.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the research capacity of CHDs and to describe research input, research process, and research output.

METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed. The data were collected using self-administered questionnaire with the Regional Director as the CHD respondent. The research capacity level was determined using rating scale measurement. Based on the ratings, each CHD was assigned a score with the corresponding capacity level: excellent (85-100%); good (70-84%); fair (51-69%); poor (<50%).

RESULTS: Fourteen (82%) of the 17 CHDs participated in the study. The institutional capacity level of the CHDs was poor in the areas of research management (43.0%) and in structure/ organization/ monitoring/ evaluation (30.0%), while it was fair in the area of resource mobilization (54.5%). Research input, research process, and research output were found to be lacking.

CONCLUSION: The capacity level of the CHDs in the various aspects of institutional research ranged from poor to fair. Specific areas under research input, research process, and research output that need improvement were identified which can be used as benchmark for capacity-building activities and as information-base against which the effectiveness of these activities in the CHDs can be evaluated.

Research

Post colonial research and scholarship and its potential to transform the experiences of Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) is an area needing consideration in research today. This paper focuses on the personal experiences encountered when teaching and learning with IENs using available literature to question how nursing education is perhaps colonialist and not able to meet the needs of this vulnerable population. Findings suggest that there are macro levels of political and socio-economic influences dominating nursing education. Hence, post colonial research can assist nurses to explore and to challenge the manner in which nursing education is developed.
Research

Research

Clinical research either directly involves a particular person or group of people or uses materials from humans such their behavior or samples of their tissue. It can involve epidemiological and behavioral research, health services research and patient-oriented research like drug trials or accuracies of diagnostic tests. It is a series of steps that lead from question to answer. There is an organized structure by which we formulate questions, develop methods to gather information and answer clinical problems. The purpose of organizing the structure is to allow studies to be repeated and validated by other researchers. There are several research designs, and the choice should be influenced by the main objective of the research. The methodology is the manner of collection of data that will give confidence in the results and conclusion. This requires identifying all sources of bias and uncertainty, and developing a method that can minimize them. Actual data collection can be obtained by inspecting the records, by conducting interview or physical examination or laboratory/ imaging investigations, or by a combination of these data-eliciting methods. Lastly, the final report should be concise but contain all the details in relation to the objective of the research. The format of the written report depends on the methodology and the requirement of the journal where it is intended to be published.

No abstract available.
Research ; Research Design ; Writing

BACKGROUND: As one of the research councils under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), health research priority setting has been the mandate of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) since its establishment in 1982. The development of the National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA) convenes the major stakeholders for health in the country to establish the priorities for health research. The NUHRA aims to address the most urgent health issues in the country for the generation of solutions to the health concerns of the country.

OBJECTIVES AND METHOD: Through document review, this paper describes the approaches and lessons learned in research priority setting since the establishment of the Philippine National Health Research System.

RESULTS: The Philippines has employed a bottoms-up, top-down, and a combination of both approaches to develop its health research agenda.

CONCLUSION: The health research agenda-setting must consider evolving funding sources, its link to production of researches with high probability of knowledge translation to health technology innovation, and policy formulation. Measuring the impact of the NUHRA to the health systems and health situation of the country is a difficult assessment, but the gradual change in healthcare technology utilization and evidence-informed policies towards health equity can be a subjective measurement of the NUHRA's success.

Interviewing is one of the more commonly deployed data collection method in qualitative research. Textbooks and journal articles abound that describe the process for conducting various types of interviews. In this paper, I offer a short methodological and reflexive discussion of an interview I conducted as part of a course requirement, focusing on the potential impact of the interview process on the collection and interpretation of data. The purpose of this paper is to draw researchers' attention to some issues that may arise in the context of a qualitative interview, and to propose possible approaches to addressing these.

Qualitative Research ; Research