No abstract available.
Telemedicine

No abstract available.
Telemedicine*

No abstract available.
Telemedicine

No abstract available.
Telemedicine

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Telemedicine

No abstract available.
Telemedicine*

No abstract available.
Telemedicine*

No abstract available.
Telemedicine*

Background: eHealth is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for health. It helps in improving the flow of information, through electronic means, in support of the delivery of health services, and the management of health systems. eHealth is used as the strategic context and tool in achieving population health, improved health system status, and socio-economic development goals. Objectives: This study is aimed at looking at the Philippine National eHealth Strategy, particularly the components of Terminology Standards and Interoperability concerning the eHealth strategy in the Philippines, and to assess the barriers and gaps in the integration of these two components. Methods: This study used secondary literature, internet search, Philippine laws, administrative orders, memorandum circulars, and grey literature to discourse terminology standards and interoperability in the Philippine eHealth system, and issues and gaps related to these components that may impede the delivery of Universal Health Coverage in the country. Results: The current Philippine National eHealth strategy includes the following sector governance, legislation, policy and compliance, eHealth solution (i.e., services and applications), strategy and investment, infrastructure (government), human resources, and standards and interoperability. Philippine Health Information Exchange (PHIE) is a software platform in the country that aims to connect many isolated electronic health systems. The proposed interoperability layer across health systems and services in the Philippines includes Patient’s Primary Healthcare Consultation at the Rural Health Unit, health research, legal information, patient healthcare at tertiary hospital, and health insurance claims. The study results showed that issues and gaps related to the interoperability of eHealth in the Philippines include technical issues such as lack of common semantics, lack of an institutional mechanism to regulate EMR, lack of incentives among eHealth providers and stakeholders to adopt standards for interoperability. Conclusion The effort of the Philippines to achieve interoperability and standards in eHealth goals can be characterized as a work in progress. The government, private sector, physician, patient, and other stakeholders are deemed to continuously develop a shared vision and interoperate under a standardized guide as eHealth is a complex endeavor that covers many aspects.
Telemedicine

Introduction: Telemedicine services have steadily been relied upon since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding its usability and contextual performance is of paramount importance if it were to pervade the local health delivery system. Hence, a tool to assess usability is warranted. Objective: The study aims to adapt a reliable and validated instrument in English to Filipino, the Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (TUQ), on evaluating the usability of telemedicine services in the Philippines. Methodology: The research is a translation and validation study. The methodology includes forward translation in collaboration with our UST Sentro sa Salin at Araling Salin and expert panel review with five experts using the telehealth system. It was followed by pretesting (pilot testing and cognitive debriefing) of the pre-final tool to 30 family medicine telehealth patients and field testing of the final instrument to 85 telehealth patients from USTH. Appropriate statistical methods for assessment included internal consistency, content validity and linguistic with conceptual equivalence. Results: All translated items were retained, but through the focus group discussion, several statements were modified to fit the cultural context. Each item and the overall tool showed excellent validity and internal consistency. The mean difference scores for each item and domain were less than ±0.25. Tests of equivalence showed that majority of items and each domain were not statistically different (p>0.05), suggesting that both questionnaires are similar and homogenous. Furthermore, the Bland-Altman plots for each dimension/domain are within the upper and lower boundaries indicating agreement between the two versions. Conclusion TUQ-Filipino is a valid and appropriate instrument to assess telehealth usability in the local setting.
Telemedicine