We had a visit from a DOH Undersecretary this week, and she brought tears to our eyes when she commended the hospital for its COVID-19 pandemic response because although DOH officials, Philhealth officials and COA staff were also doing their best to cope with the crisis, it was the hospitals that bore the brunt of the work in making sure patients had access to quality healthcare services.
While other government personnel worked from home, it was the frontline healthcare workers who risked their own health to provide care for those afflicted with COVID-19.
We already conducted mass interviews this week to hire health professionals for available plantilla item positions.
Most of the questions asked were "tell us about your educational background, your past work experiences and the skillsets that you have that you think may be useful for the position you are applying for..." as well as questions about "given the thrust of this government hospital to provide quality service with total patient satisfaction, what do you think you can contribute as a frontline healthcare worker to make this happen, to achieve this goal?"
I also met up with our OBGYN residency training program graduates, and my heart is full to hear that they are making waves in their own areas of influence to improve the Philippine health care system. I do hope that they receive the support that they need to implement reforms for improvement.
We invite everyone tonight to discuss what characteristics patients would look for in their frontline healthcare workers tonight at 9PM on #HealthXPH:
T1. Share your most memorable experience with frontline healthcare workers. Was your experience a negative one or a positive one? We all get sick at one point in our lives. The patient experience affects how we react to accessing healthcare services in the future.
T2. What characteristics do you look for in your frontline healthcare workers? Customer relations and feedback is very important for further improvement in services provided. How do we provide our criticisms constructively? The patient is the primary reason why healthcare workers exist, therefore we must have that listening ear to hear the voice of the patient.
T3. How can we support healthcare workers to be what we need them to be? Filipino healthcare workers have been lauded globally for desirable traits like being hardworking, enduring, persistent, compassionate and being selfless. Many of our Filipino healthcare workers, nurses in particular, are leaving the country for better opportunities abroad. How can we support Filipino healthcare workers to be what the Filipino patient needs them to be?
