University of the Philippines Manila

About: University of the Philippines Manila is a education organization based out in Manila, Philippines. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 2218 authors who have published 2357 publications receiving 88781 citations. The organization is also known as: UPM.

A pilot implementation of interprofessional education in a community-academe partnership in the Philippines

Abstract: Introduction: Interprofessional education (IPE) has been internationally recognized. In the Philippines, however, there is limited experience with IPE. This paper describes the activities of interprofessional teams and the student participants' perceptions of the pilot implementation of the Family Case Management, an IPE initiative of the University of the Philippines Community Health and Development Program in partnership with the Municipality of San Juan, Batangas. Methods: Five teams composed of medical, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech pathology students participated. They provided health services to families with complex health needs in the community. Their activities were: (1) orientation of the team, (2) choosing the patient and family, (3) patient and family engagement, (4) assessment and goal-setting, (5) patient and family intervention, and (6) monitoring of outcomes. Students completed a self-administered questionnaire exploring their (1) overall experience, (2) perceptions of the project's most and least useful aspects, and (3) recommendations for improvement. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses were performed. Results: Data showed high ratings of the experience. Themes on the useful aspect of the project were (1) learning about collaboration, (2) appreciation of roles, (3) holistic care, (4) service to the community, and (5) unique learning experience. Themes on the least useful aspects were (1) coordination requirement, (2) patient management, (3) program structure, and (4) community-setting limitations. Recommendations included improvements in communication, orientation, patient management, available resources and supervision. Discussion: The students' appreciation of the Family Case Management demonstrated the opportunity and challenges for IPE implementation in the Philippines.

Connecting communities to primary care: a qualitative study on the roles, motivations and lived experiences of community health workers in the Philippines

Abstract: Community health workers (CHWs) are an important cadre of the primary health care (PHC) workforce in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Philippines was an early adopter of the CHW model for the delivery of PHC, launching the Barangay (village) Health Worker (BHW) programme in the early 1980s, yet little is known about the factors that motivate and sustain BHWs’ largely voluntary involvement. This study aims to address this gap by examining the lived experiences and roles of BHWs in urban and rural sites in the Philippines. This cross-sectional qualitative study draws on 23 semi-structured interviews held with BHWs from barangays in Valenzuela City (urban) and Quezon province (rural). A mixed inductive/ deductive approach was taken to generate themes, which were interpreted according to a theoretical framework of community mobilisation to understand how characteristics of the social context in which the BHW programme operates act as facilitators or barriers for community members to volunteer as BHWs. Interviewees identified a range of motivating factors to seek and sustain their BHW roles, including a variety of financial and non-financial incentives, gaining technical knowledge and skill, improving the health and wellbeing of community members, and increasing one’s social position. Furthermore, ensuring BHWs have adequate support and resources (e.g. allowances, medicine stocks) to execute their duties, and can contribute to decisions on their role in delivering community health services could increase both community participation and the overall impact of the BHW programme. These findings underscore the importance of the symbolic, material and relational factors that influence community members to participate in CHW programmes. The lessons drawn could help to improve the impact and sustainability of similar programmes in other parts of the Philippines and that are currently being developed or strengthened in other LMICs.