ABSTRACT
Introduction@#The Universal Health Care Law in the Philippines brought cost and quality at the forefront of the healthcare industry, ensuring all Filipinos have the right to health. With family medicine physicians as implementers, it is important to know what the patients/ consumer wants for their clinic. But during the pandemic, challenges were laid bare, highlighting how the health care sector should respond to the country’s health care needs.@*Objectives@#The study aimed to determine patient preferences for primary care clinics and provider characteristics among patients and caregivers from a community-based clinic chain in Cavite and Taguig City@*Methods@#A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 168 patients who consulted two private primary clinics in Cavite and Taguig in December 2021. After a comprehensive literature review and pilot study, a self-administered survey questionnaire was utilized. Data as frequencies and percentages were analyzed@*Results@#Preferences for primary care clinics were well-equipped clinic, safety protocols, PPE for the healthcare team, pleasing/ accommodating receptionist, separate area for patients with covid like symptoms, located within their community (< 1km away), 15-30 mins waiting time, and morning visit. Top preferences for provider characteristics were physicians who do careful examination and history, spoke in layman’s terms, rational prescription of drugs/tests, trustworthy, with <5 years of experience, 4- 8 clinic hours and to be seen by only one doctor. A pharmacy and x-ray/ultrasound, face to face consultation, affordable services, and consultation fees less than PhP500 (10 USD) were also preferred.@*Conclusion@#This study revealed that the patients’ preference was affected by the pandemic. Results showed that even as there are existing studies, it can change depending on the circumstances, and must change with the times in order to move forward. Taking into consideration these preferences is vital for the survival of the primary care clinic.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Community Health ServicesABSTRACT
Background@#Since the implementation of the community quarantine by the Philippine government last March 17, 2020 the country has been living in constant fear of possibly contracting the virus. Even as vaccines have been developed and tested, not everyone is confident in having themselves vaccinated against COVID-19. This is true even for healthcare professionals who are at increased risk of exposure to the virus@*Objective@#This study aimed to determine the acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccination among Health Care Workers from a primary care setting during the COVID-19 pandemic@*Methods@#A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June 2021 with 101 healthcare workers from all active clinics of Healthway Family Clinics at the time of the study. The participants were given self-administered questionnaires containing 15 items regarding socio-demographic data as well as willingness to receive and perception of COVID-19 vaccination@*Results@#Overall, 97% of the 101 total participants are willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it is made available to them, while 3%, displaying vaccine hesitancy, would like to wait before getting vaccinated. Most participants in the study were female (66.3%) and single (72.3%) with a mean age of 30.82 years. Majority of the participants were doctors (56.4%), followed by nurses (25.7%), clinic assistants (7.9%), pharmacists (7.9%) and radiology technicians (2.1%). There was no significant association between vaccination acceptance with sociodemographic variables and perceptions about the vaccine@*Conclusion and Recommendation@#Once the COVID-19 vaccine is available to them, majority of the healthcare workers in the study’s primary care community-based clinics will immediately avail of the vaccination and while the remaining displays vaccine hesitancy. This is encouraging because it is important for health workers to protect themselves from the risk of COVID-19 infection by getting immunized as well as be in the forefront of encouraging our patients to have themselves immunized as well. Future researchers may use this study and its recommendations to analyze possible trends and associations with regards to COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake