A Primer on an e-Learning for Health

The Philippine health care system is continually plagued by massive health worker
migration and inequitable distribution of manpower resources, and appropriate use of
information and communications technology (ICT) in health is seen as a tool for
bridging the gap created by this situation. One such appropriate use of ICT in health is
e-Health, which is defined as “electronic health care delivered over the Internet,
ranging from informational, educational, and commercial ‘products’ to direct services
offered by professionals, nonprofessionals, businesses, or consumers themselves.”

ELearning is one e-Health service and is, in turn, defined as “Remote professional
learning and competence monitoring.” It is a method that can be used to facilitate
continuing education for health workers in remote areas.

In line with the foregoing and in the pursuit of its goal to improve health care
delivery to the general public through ideas and information exchange utilizing
information technology, the University of the Philippines’ National Telehealth Center
(NThC) undertook an e-Learning initiative. The objective is to enhance the capability
of health workers, especially community health volunteers called barangay health
workers (BHW), to adequately respond to common medical conditions in the
community. To achieve this, 10-15 minute instructional video presentations,
especially tailored for the BHWs whose educational attainment range from
elementary school level to high school graduate, are developed. Initial videos created
include community management of Childhood Poisoning, Stroke, Tuberculosis and
Avian Influenza. These are uploaded to the World Wide Web and can be streamed or
downloaded through the NThC website (www.telehealth.ph). Special arrangements
also are made available for special screenings of the videos coupled with online video
teleconferencing with medical specialists in the premiere state hospital of the country,
the Philippine General Hospital.

To reach out to more BHWs and other community health workers, ties are
established with the Commission on Information and Communications Technology’s
Philippine Community eCenter Program, which seeks to join the international
movement to set up ICT kiosks called Telecenters worldwide. These Telecenters,
called in the country as Community eCenters, are cybercafe-like shops designed to
operate as information resource and knowledge-sharing facilities in communities.
They can serve as the community health workers’ link to the Internet and the NThC’s
e-Learning offerings.

The NThC’s e-Learning thrust is still in its infancy. Pilot tests that have been
conducted in various locations all over the country, however, show that the approach
of video presentation coupled with online mentoring holds great promise as an
effective tool for distance learning for community health workers.

Capabilityenhancement of BHWs and other community health workers, in turn, can be a way to compensate for the health human resource scarcity in the Philippines, especially in rural areas. It is hoped that this will ultimately impact positively on the country’s health care system.