To describe the profile of adult foreign patients seen at the Emergency Room, Manila Doctors Hospital from January 2008 to December 2009 and their level of satisfaction. Background: Medical tourism is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly growing practice of traveling across international boarders to obtain health care. The Philippines is one of a few countries that send qualified physicians and dentists to the US, a testament to its quality of medical education. Procedures can be performed at a fraction of the amount that a patient would spend on the same procedure in the US or Europe. Method: This is a descriptive study done in the Department of Emergency Medicine of a tertiary hospital. All adult foreign patients who consulted at the E.R. were given survey questionnaires to answer prior to discharge. Answers of the patients to the items in the questionnaires were collected and described. Results: In terms of the number of consultations at the Emergency Medicine, the most common nationalities of foreign patients are Asians, specifically, Koreans, Chinese and Japanese in that order. Americans and Saudi Arabians immediately follow. Most of the subjects learned about Manila Doctors Hospital thru their friends, some were referred by hotels, agencies and former patients. The subjects were satisfied with courteous and prompt services given to them by the E.R. staff; they were attended to in less than 30 minutes. Most patients find the cost of medical services reasonable. They felt safe inside the hospital. There is a good level of satisfaction among foreign adult patients consulting at the DEM. Conclusion: Among all patients who were included in the study, Koreans rank as top foreign adult patients consulting at the DEM. Overall, patients were satisfied with the medical services rendered to them by the E.R. staff.
EMERGENCY ROOM ; MEDICAL TOURISM

BACKGROUND: With the rising patients dissatisfying experiences and poor patient satisfaction rate accounted in the Emergency Department (ED) of Manila Doctors Hospital, the researcher was determined to alleviate these upsetting experiences without making huge and costly renovation on the part of the hospital management by educating the patients and guardians of pediatric patients of the ED processes and scenarios while at the triage.

METHODS: This study was randomized,controlled trial in which 70 acute care adult patients and guardians of pediatric patients that came in the afternoon shift (2-10pm) were enrolled and randomized to experimental and control groups, where the experimental group was educated of the ED processes and scenarios at the triage area and the control group was given no information. At the end of ED visit, participants were asked to give a patient satisfaction rating using a scale where 6 domains are rated (triage, patient safety, security, non-medical and medical staffs, facility and payments). 

RESULTS: The results showed no statistically significant differences between the experimental and the control groups. There was not enough power to detect a statistically significant difference between the two groups as to the level of satisfaction.

CONCLUSION: The experimental and control groups were comparable as to the level of patient satisfaction. Patient education in the triage is not an effective strategy in improving the patient satisfaction in the ED of Manila Doctors Hospital.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Triage ; Patient Satisfaction ; Patient Safety ; Personal Satisfaction ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Hospitals ; Medical Staff ; Health Facilities

Introduction: The global trend of decreasing mortality and decreasing fertility, has brought about “Population Aging”. The steady increase in the number of geriatric patients calls for the need to improve the holistic management of illnesses of this population. Objective: The objective of the study is to identify the common illnesses of geriatric patients seen at the Manila Doctors’ Hospital - Department of Family and Community Medicine Clinic at Barangay 662, Paco, Manila, from June 2011 to December 2016. Methods: This a retrospective-descriptive study. Barangay 662, at Cristobal St., Paco, Manila, has been the adopted community of the MDH-DFCM since June of 2011. All patients aged sixty (60) years old and above seen at the said clinic were included in this study. Baseline demographics were obtained and patients’ charts were used as basis for this study. Frequency of consults and demographic data were tallied at the time of consult. Qualitative variables and percentages were analysed for this study Results: Over a span of 6 years, the most common illness of geriatric patients seen at the MDH-DFCM Clinic were osteoarthritis (n=145), hypertensive cardiovascular disease (n=126) and hypertension stage 2 (n=124). There were more consults by female patients (69% n=458). Purok 4 had the most number of consults (28% n=144). According to the ICD-10, reasons for consult belonged to disease of the circulatory system (n=344). Conclusion This study concludes that the most common illnesses of geriatric patients seen at the MDH-DFCM Clinic at Barangay 662, Paco, Manila, from June 2011 to December 2016 were non-communicable diseases.
Humans ; Noncommunicable Diseases

SCOPE: A formative evaluation of a one-day Community-Based Health Program (CBHP) workshop in an urban poor setting in Silang,Cavite was done.
OBJECTIVE: To determine if the workshop was feasible and useful from the perspective of important stakeholders.
RESEARCH DESIGN: A descriptive research design was used with triangulation of data sources: participant observation, short-form questionnaire and monitoring checklist.
RESULTS: The responses from the short-form, self-administered feedback questionnaire showed that out of the 42 participants: 1) 38% liked that they gained knowledge from the workshop; 2) 72.3% expressed that there was nothing that they disliked during the sessions; 3) about 13% expressed their desire to have more workshops like this one in the future; and 4) only 6.4% learned the importance of CBHP. It was observed frequently during discussions that participants said that the San Beda College of Medicine, played an important and crucial role in the CBHP. The College was visible and active together with the staff of the Canossa Health and Social Center run by the Canossian Daughters of Charity as well as with its community leader, Sr. Maria Elena Adre. With the presence of the clinical clerks and doctors of San Beda College of Medicine, the program continuously provided health services. Furthermore, other strengths that were mentioned were the volunteer health workers, the laboratory (microscopy), numerous training activities and seminars, feeding program and scholarship program.
CONCLUSION: A one-day CBHP workshop was feasible and useful in an urban poor community setting from the perspective of important stakeholders.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Charities ; Checklist ; Feedback ; Health Promotion ; Information Storage And Retrieval ; Microscopy ; Nuclear Family ; Physicians ; Surveys And Questionnaires ; Volunteers