rainy days here in the Philippines. we always had a hard time making clothes dried. which reminds me of the reason why im always late :/
Pack run. Rafa, Buban & Niq. Antipolo 2010.
Since I realize I have somehow gained a growing number of followers from outside of the Philippines (really??? You guys actually like what I post?! hahah…), I feel compelled give you a generalized idea (potentially biased) about UP College of Medicine and Philippine General Hospital.
UPCM
If you want to go to medical school in the Philippines, you go here. It’s ultra competitive (160 per class). It’s a five year program, 4 year medical school proper + 1 year internship (Learning Unit 3-7). Or there’s the 7 year intarmed program, think of the equivalent baby-doc programs in the states… kinda. After high school 2 years of pre-med/basic sciences (LU 1-2) before going straight into med school proper (LU53) After LU 5, you have a BS Basic Science degree. Click here for wiki info
From what our teachers and other alumni keep telling us, UP trains the best doctors. Why? Clinical experience. From day 1 you already have patient interactions, and it just keeps going from there. More importantly, our training ground is PGH (more on it later), so the vast number of patients you handle by 3rd year is just well, frankly overwhelming at times. Personally, I also feel that the required internship at PGH is a strength for this very reason. Additionally, there are 3 internship tracks. 1 is a straight internship in a specialty of your choice (provided you’re like, top 20% or something of the class) such as Gen Med, Surg, OB/Gyn, Pedia, Fam Med, etc. The other internship is more focused yet diverse (Gen Med, Surg, Pedia, OB/Gyn, Fam Med, something else) plus a few electives. The last track is essentially 1 month in the major rotations + 2 week rotations through most of the subspecs.
Philippine General Hospital
It’s like this, when patients (indigent, poor, people who need healthcare) think of PGH, it means hope for them. It’s a tertiary government owned hospital, and largely a training hospital for UPCM and a number of residency/fellowship programs. First off, you need to understand the health care system here, and to completely put it in a nutshell… you can afford it or you can’t. This is where PGH comes in. Two services, Pay and Charity. Pay obviously you can afford whatever you need. Charity is what the UPCM med students are exposed to. Health care is subsidized or even free to the indigent patients who qualify.
The type of patients who come in are generally those who really need healthcare either because 1) They know PGH is ‘free’ 2) They live within the area 3) More advanced/specialty care is needed 4) The reputation of PGH. 5) All of the above.
Most of the patients (usually those in outpatient services) are seen for everyday common illnesses (cough, cold, hypertension, etc etc etc… the bread and butter cases) In PGH, you will see textbook cases of diseases and conditions everyday, the kind of cases that are case reportable back in the States. Additionally, you will see advanced and late stage diseases as well. Needless to say, it makes learning really interesting. Students and residents are the first line of providers to treat these cases (with co-management of senior residents/fellows of course)
But here is the reality of PGH. It’s a very old hospital (hell, it survived WW2), parts of it are in need of renovation. It’s underfunded. Majority of funds come from donations from alumni and other organizations (as far as I know) plus whatever government funds they receive. Things in PGH are to put it bluntly, inefficient. Medical records are still pen and paper, there’s really no centralized laboratory records (meaning, if you can’t find the damn lab, you either repeat it, or flip through piles of logbooks). Things tend to break down… I remember one anecdote that the CT machine was out because it was literally so much used til it broke (like its rated for X# of patients per day… but in reality it was 10X# of patients in one day or something to that effect).
Ordering exams and other diagnostics, I’ll explain it like this. A frequent question we were asked in clinics “If there was ONLY ONE exam you could order for a given case, what would it be?” We have to keep in mind that the patients are already strapped for cash, hence why they’re in PGH. Another problem comes when the patient’s already admitted, but you can’t do anything because the patients have no funds for diagnostics or meds… most times they can get financial support, but here and there the residents have to pay for their meds/exams.
The other sad reality. Lack of resources. The number of patients at PGH clearly exceed the resources, and for that matter the number of available beds. I could go on and on, but I think you get the general idea.
PGH, it could be more efficient, it could be better. But its the only thing we have right now and we make do (and sometimes creatively I might add)
