The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)

Room assignment for Pampanga examinees in the December 18 – 19, 2011 Nursing Board Exam.

PRC Room Assignment for December 2011 Nursing Board Exam (Pampanga)

Source: PRC

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)

Room assignment for Cabanatuan examinees in the December 18 – 19, 2011 Nursing Board Exam.

NLE 12-2011 CABANATUAN

Source: PRC Baguio

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)

Room assignment for La Union examinees in the December 18 – 19, 2011 Nursing Board Exam.

NLE 12-2011 BAGUIO

Source: PRC Baguio

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)

Room assignment for Dagupan City examinees in the December 18 – 19, 2011 Nursing Board Exam.

NLE 12-2011 DAGUPAN

Source: PRC Baguio

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)

Room assignment for Baguio City examinees in the December 18 – 19, 2011 Nursing Board Exam.

NLE 12-2011 BAGUIO

Source: PRC Baguio

UP Manila – National Telehealth Center
Press Release
November 3, 2011

70 New Doctors Trained on Telemedicine Before Barrio Work

Tagaytay City, Philippines- National Telehealth Center (NTHC) of the University of the Philippines Manila is preparing 70 new DOH Doctors to the Barrios (DTTBs) in using telemedicine applications in an effort to support their practice in doctorless communities in the countryside.

The 29th batch of DTTBs under the Doctors to the Barrios Program of the Department of Health (DOH) began their training last October 17 at the Development Academy of the Philippines Campus. They are officially enrolled in NTHC’s Certificate Course in eHealth and Telemedicine which is a part of the 30-million National Telehealth Service Program (NTSP) recently forged by the NTHC with the DOH. NTSP aims to help DTTBs handle patients in their assigned communities; including those that need specialty care. Currently, there are already 109 doctors – from Batanes to Zamboanga – enrolled in the NTSP. DTTBs are being taught how to do telereferrals to refer difficult to handle cases in 5th to 6th class municipalities of the country. 26 of them will be deployed in the Mindanao while some will be assigned in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas.

Due to the absence of doctors in rural communities, most patients have to travel long hours in order to seek medical attention from clinical specialists in provincial or city centers. According to President Benigno S. Aquino III, as reported by DOH Secretary of Health Enrique T. Ona in his speech last March, 30 percent of Filipinos die without seeing a health professional.

Telemedicine offers some relief to the country’s health challenges by connecting health workers in poor remote rural communities with specialists in the Philippine General Hospital. With the implementation of the 5-year partnership of DOH and UP under the National Telehealth Service Program (NTSP), local health professionals from 606 poorest municipalities and regional centers will be connected to clinical specialists via telemedicine.

“Telemedicine has to be practiced professionally, grounded on a strong ethical-legal base; hence the need to train health professionals is a core component of the NTSP,” Dr. Portia Fernandez-Marcelo, NTHC director said.

“Telemedicine, under the NTSP is free of charge to the patients since this is subsidized by the DOH and the UP. While ICT advancements are beginning to be used in health care in the Philippines, the public is warned against those who take advantage of the situation,” she added. According to Dr. Marcelo, there were informal reports that some doctors in the rural areas, who are not enrolled in the certificate course of NTSP, are charging 300 pesos for telemedicine of NTHC.

The course consists of a two day-intensive hands-on training on the ethics and practice of telemedicine. On the first day, a series of discussions for the doctors’ Continuing Medical Education was held. This was followed by the hands-on training on mobile health technologies.

The Certificate Course in eHealth and Telemedicine is a 6-month blended learning course with 2-day face-to-face learning activities, followed by field practice and mentoring, capped by another 1-day face-to-face seminar workshop.

The UP Manila National Telehealth Center:
Established in June 1998, the University of the Philippines National Telehealth Center (UPM NTHC), has been collaborating with different sectors in the realm of information and communications technology (ICT) for health and development. The Center affirms its mandate of “putting health in the hands of the people” through available technologies by linking health care professionals of the Premier State University and the communities, especially the underserved.

The Center works under the OneHealth banner, NTHC’s three-point program that merges innovative applications in eLearning, eRecords, and eMedicine for health care and eHealth policy advocacy.
UPM NTHC collaborates with like-minded institutions to harness support for better health care for all through technologies that are accessible, affordable, appropriate, and culturally acceptable for Filipinos. By banking on individual’s capacities, the center believes that people can use information and communications technology for sound decision making contributing to better health outcomes. NTHC technologies are built in the strength of free and open source software.

About the Contributor:
Melissa J. Pedreña, RN
eHealth Nurse and Coordinator for Telemedicine Certificate Course
Phone:+63 2 5256501(telefax)
E-mail: melpedrena@gmail.com

UP Manila – National Telehealth Center
Press Release
September 9, 2011

QC recognizes UP’s health info system as tool in disease tracking

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES — The Quezon City Health Department reports that dengue cases are up by 3,447 cases from January to August, reaching the “alert threshold.”

This singular figure – a result of painstaking manual collation of reports gathered collectively by more than 250 public health nurses and midwives – is a powerful piece of information that should guide the public health management of the vector-borne disease.

However, because health information is manually obtained, collected, and aggregated, it loses its relevance by the time it reaches the desk of health managers. Therefore, it follows that the response mounted is not optimum.

This scenario is not unique to the Quezon City Health Department. Everywhere in the country, health managers struggle with having to rely on outdated or stale data to achieve a semblance of “evidence-based” decision-making.
But with its visionary leadership, Quezon City will be the first city to become an exception.

On September 12, the Quezon City government, led by Mayor Herbert M. Bautista, launched the P8.5 million Computerized Health Information System project utilizing the University of the Philippines’ homegrown electronic medical record system called Community Health Information Tracking System or CHITS.

This was formally sealed with Mayor Bautista and newly-installed UP President Alfredo E. Pascual signing of the Memorandum of Agreement at the Bulwagang Amoranto in this city.

Because of this, the “most populous city in the Philippines” is the first urban city to automate its entire health department.

“We can easily address the problem in a click of a button; unlike before, when we had to call our district supervisors to submit reports,” said City Health Officer Dr. Antonieta V. Inumerable of the Quezon City Health Department. “Now they can concentrate in the monitoring and easily apply preventive measures.”

Inumerable expounds that with the system, QC “can easily track the occurrence of communicable diseases which are of public importance.”

Vision for a “More People-Responsive Health Care”
“I dream of a healthier citizenry for Quezon City, “ declared Bautista. “This project is part of my overall plan to harness information technology as a tool to strengthen and secure services to our constituents.”

The automation of QC’s health information system is aligned with the national government’s five-year Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) 2011-2016. The strategy aims to use information and communications technology (ICT) in promoting efficiency in the delivery of public service, which includes health care.

Bautista added, “This will enable us to better monitor inventories, patients, types of diseases attended to, actual consumption of resources as they occur, as well as to obtain objective measurements of efficiencies in attending to health needs of how many of our poor constituents.”

This vision was concretized and reinforced by the City Council under the leadership of Vice Mayor Joy G. Belmonte as they passed City Ordinance No. SP-2070. The ordinance stipulates for the computerization of all health centers in the city to serve as an “indispensable tool in providing emergency health services to all clients.”

One Health Information System for the Green City
CHITS is to aggregate relevant health information from 5 health districts, 7 lying-in clinics, 3 social hygiene clinics, and 63 health centers without using papers, folders and envelopes. This enables more than 3 million residents to have their consultation and health care services record stored and retrieved electronically.

“Paperless records [save us] papers and envelopes,” expressed Inumerable, echoing the city’s commitment to protect the environment.

Through CHITS, long waiting time for patients seeking medical services is reduced.

Data management, report generation, and inventory system are centralized to facilitate decision-making and planning purposes for the City’s health officers.

“CHITS tremendously unloads the health workers in reporting and spending more time in service delivery,” articulated Inumerable as health personnel usually spend their afternoons writing and recording in the registries and reports required by the City Health Office and the Department of Health.

CHITS has programs/modules that could store data on typical health center services such as consultation, maternal and child health, immunization, anti-tuberculosis, dental, family planning, leprosy, laboratory and notifiable diseases.

CHITS also features a PhilHealth module which monitors health services rendered to its members and dependents. It automatically generates reports that are compliant with the DOH’s Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS).

“For Quezon City, we [integrate] the other health programs of the DOH and requirements of the City Health Department such as communicable and non-communicable diseases, environmental sanitation, elderly program, social hygiene services, and lying-in clinic services,” enumerated Director Portia F. Marcelo of the National Telehealth Center.” CHITS also includes a drug inventory system for Quezon City’s health department.”

Created by the UP College of Medicine in 2004 with Pasay City, CHITS is “the longest running EMR in the country.”

The National Telehealth Center has since expanded its implementation in up to 50 rural health units nationwide. Recently, Navotas City also signed an agreement for the implementation of CHITS using Smartphones.

The technology is only as good as its user
Central to CHITS is building capacities of the government health staff – CHITS strengthens or even introduces skills in ICT use for health, deepens their appreciation for better quality data, strengthens their commitment in serving the public – mostly the poor who seek care in their health centers. CHITS introduces the values of FOSS or free and open source software – openness, sharing, accountability, giving back to the community.

CHITS anchors its existence with the support of health personnel such as physicians, midwives, public health nurses, and barangay health workers in the development of the software.

“Our strategy to partner with health workers in the development of the DOH health programs into modules made a great impact in the success of CHITS,” explained Marcelo. “Partnership matters a lot in the process as we have experienced in Pasay.”

With the forging of the partnership between Quezon City and the premier State University, health care delivery is transcended to new heights for its citizens.

UPM-NThC Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS) Primer

UPM-NThC Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS) and QC MOA Signing (12 Sept. 2011) Program

About CHITS
CHITS or Community Health Information Tracking System is the first ever electronic medical record system for Philippine health centers operating in open source-software. It was designed by Dr. Herman D. Tolentino, together with the health professionals of Pasay and operates on open-source software. In May 2004, CHITS was piloted in Pasay through a grant from PANASIA-ICT, a joint funding of the International Development Research Center of Canada and the United Nations Development Programme. As of July 2011, CHITS has been installed in over 50 health centers nationwide. Website: http://www.chits.ph/

The UP Manila National Telehealth Center
NTHC collaborates with like-minded institutions to promote better health care for all through technologies that are accessible, affordable, appropriate, and culturally-acceptable for Filipinos. By banking on individual’s capacities, the center believes that people can use information and technology for sound decision making for better health care. NTHC technologies are built in the strength of free and open source software. Website: http://www.telehealth.ph

Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) instructions for new professionals who have just passed the nursing board exam (Nurse Licensure Examination):

Initial registrants should come personally to the PRC office to affix his/her signature in the registry book.

REQUIREMENTS DURING INITIAL REGISTRATION:
1. Duly-accomplished Oath Form or “Panunumpa ng Propesyonal” form. Go here to download the Oath Form or “Panunumpa ng Propesyonal” form. (This Oath Form is also available at the PRC.)
2. Current Community Tax Certificate (cedula).
3. Two (2) pcs. passport size pictures with name tag (for Oath Form and Certificate of Registration).
4. One (1) pc. 1×1 picture in plain background with complete name tag (for Registry of Professionals).
5. Two (2) sets of metered documentary stamps (for Oath Form and Certificate of Registration).
6. One (1) short brown envelope with your NAME and PROFESSION (Nurse) written on it.
7. Initial Registration Fee of PhP 600 (six hundred pesos).
8. Triennial Registration Fee of PhP 450 (four hundred fifty pesos) for 2011 – 2014.

INITIAL REGISTRATION PROCEDURE:
Step 1. Accomplish the Oath Form or “Panunumpa ng Propesyonal” form.
Step 2. Pay for two sets of metered documentary stamps (one stamped on the Oath Form and one for the Registration Certificate) at the Customer Service Center.
Step 3. Present duly-accomplished Oath Form (where your profession belongs, for verification of records and assessment at Window 14, Window 19, Window 28 or at PRC Service Center, Ever-Recto.)
Step 4. Pay prescribed fees at the Cashier.
Step 5. Sign in the Registry Book and receive your claim slip at: Window 17, Window 20, Window 27.
Step 6. Claim your professional ID as scheduled (usually after 2 months upon registration). Refer to your claim slip for further instructions.

Certificates and PRC ID shall be claimed by the licensee personally at the Central Office or the Regional Office where the application has been filed. If there is an unavoidable need for a representative, the representative must present his/her identification paper with picture and a Special Power of Attorney.

IN CASE THE REGISTRANT IS LOCATED ABROAD:

1. The following are the requirements:

• Take the professional’s oath before the Philippine Consul.
• Special Power of Attorney notarized by the Consul.
• Copy of passport page showing personal data.
• Copy of passport page showing date of entry abroad.

2. Refer to PRC Resolution No. 2006-313 Series of 2006 (Resolution amending item No. 1, Paragraph 3 of Commission Resolution No. 2004-235 Series of 2004 regarding the personal filling up of entries of data in the registry of professionals.)

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Baguio initial registration schedule for new professionals (July 2011 Nurse Licensure Examination successful examinees from Baguio, San Fernando – La Union, Dagupan and Cabanatuan):

Successful examinees in Baguio, San Fernando (La Union), Dagupan and Cabanatuan shall be registered by the Baguio Regional Office pursuant to Commission Office Order No. 2009-90 (d. February 19, 2009) which sets a “Register Where You Applied for Exam” policy. To decongest the Regional Office and to enable passers to save on travel time and expenses, the Regional Office will process initial registration on the following dates:

Registrants shall personally register in order to sign in the Roster of Registered Professionals with the following requirements:
o Duly accomplished Oath Form or Panunumpa ng Propesyonal;
o 2011 Community Tax Certificate (Cedula);
o Two (2) pieces passport-size pictures (colored with white background and name tag);
o One (1) piece 1”x1” picture (colored with white background and name tag);
o One (1) piece documentary stamp;
o Original and photocopy of NSO Birth Certificate (original copy for presentation purposes only); and
o Initial Registration Fee of P600.00 and Annual Registration Fee of P450.00 for 2011-2014.

For initial registration details, visit http://www.prcbaguio.blogspot.com. For verification of grades/ratings, visit http://www.prc.gov.ph or click Online Verification of Ratings (OVR). In case you have forgotten your application number, click OVERA.

Source: PRC Baguio

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Cebu initial registration schedule for new professionals (July 2011 Nurse Licensure Examination successful examinees from Cebu City):

PRC Initial Registration Schedule for July 2011 Nursing Board Exam Passers (Cebu)

Source: PRC