Impact of level of knowledge, attitude, practice, perceived barriers and risk perception on COVID-19 and infection control on residency training among physical medicine and rehabilitation trainees in the Philippines

Introduction@#In compliance with the COVID-19 infection control guidelines outlined by the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, non-urgent and non-essential services have been postponed in most healthcare institutions in the Philippines, including medical training institutions wherein responses and strategies for the residency program vary. These changes may impact the trainees’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes on their training. Specifically, most services were halted indefinitely in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). Some resident trainees were deployed to treat COVID-19 patients not as PM&R residents but as generalists to augment the number of medical front-liners. @*Objective@#To determine the PM&R residents’ COVID-19 risk preparedness in terms of relevant knowledge, attitudes, practice, and perceived barriers, and to describe the impact of COVID-19 on residency training. @*Methods@#In this descriptive cross-sectional survey, the population consisted of a sample of PM&R residents from the six training institutions in the Philippines. A 15-20-minute web-based assessment tool was used to gather the following: participant characteristics; level of awareness and knowledge of residents towards COVID-19; risk preparedness through risk perception, knowledge, and attitudes regarding COVID-19; and impact of COVID-19 on residency training. @*Results@#A total of 62 PM&R residents participated in the study. The majority were female and aged at least 30 years. The respondents had the following mean scores: 12.84 out of 14 for knowledge (interpreted as good), 9.16 out of 35 for attitude (interpreted as positive), and 5.65 out of 6 for practiced adherence to COVID-19 and infection control measures in their respective institutions (interpreted as good). The most commonly cited barriers to COVID-19 infection control included overcrowding in the emergency room (95%), lack of knowledge about the mode of transmission of the disease (92%), and limitation of infection control resources (92%). The majority reported that the main impact of the pandemic on PM&R residency training included the lack of clinical exposure to cases and procedures. @*Conclusion@#The study provided local baseline data on the PM&R residents’ level of COVID-19 risk preparedness and the perceived impact of the pandemic on their training. The study results may help the faculty plan for program improvement measures amid the changing COVID-19 landscape.

Readiness and acceptance of Philippine General Hospital Medical Staff for Telemedicine as alternative method of patient consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-enhanced community quarantine period

Introduction@#The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prompted a shift from standard in-person consultation to non-patient contact methods such as telemedicine. To our knowledge, there was no published a priori evaluation of the telemedicine readiness and acceptance among the medical staff of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) before implementing the institution’s telemedicine program. The lack of this vital pre-implementation step is understandable given the unprecedented crisis. However, if telemedicine programs will continue in the post-quarantine period, it is crucial to determine the facilitators and barriers to the use of telemedicine. @*Objective@#This study determined the level of readiness and acceptance for telemedicine as an alternative method for patient consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-enhanced community quarantine period among PGH medical staff (consultants, residents, fellows). @*Methods@#The cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2020 to July 2021. Medical staff from the 16 clinical departments of the PGH were selected by systematic random sampling. Inclusion criteria included appointment as medical staff in PGH or University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM), voluntary informed consent, internet access, and technical capacity to access e-mail and SurveyMonkey™. The online survey consisted of two questionnaires. It collected data on the demographic profile and outcomes of interest (e.g., telemedicine readiness and acceptance). Technological readiness was determined through the 16-item modified version of Technological Readiness Index (TRI) version 2.0, while telemedicine acceptance was determined through the modified version of the 19-item Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) questionnaire. Descriptive and analytical statistics were performed at a 95% confidence interval. @*Results@#The study had an 87% response rate with 205 respondents, 62% of whom were physicians in training (resident physicians and fellows). The respondents had a median age of 33 years and were mostly males. Only 19% had telemedicine experience before the pandemic. The majority (51%) learned telemedicine on their own. The most common devices used for telemedicine were mobile or smartphones (53%) and laptops (38%). The primary source of internet for telemedicine was mobile broadband (e.g., cellular data) (40%). The majority practiced telemedicine at their home or residence (51%), followed closely by the hospital or clinic (47%). The mean score of the respondents on TRI was 3.56 (very good technological readiness), and 4.00 (very good telemedicine acceptance) on UTAUT (behavioral intention to use the system). Performance expectancy (p = 0.02), effort expectancy (p = 0.03), and self-efficacy (p = 0.02) were significantly directly related to telemedicine adoption, while anxiety (p = 0.03) was significantly inversely related. @*Conclusion@#The PGH medical staff were found to have very good telemedicine readiness and acceptance. This suggests a willingness to use telemedicine during the pandemic. Further studies on the organization and technical support system of the telemedicine program in the PGH are strongly recommended. The quality and efficiency of the program will strongly influence the continued use of telemedicine by the medical staff even after the pandemic.

Orthotic management with a customized humeral brace for Gorham-Stout disease of the humerus: A case report

@#Gorham-Stout disease is characterized by massive osteolysis or "vanishing bone" on radiograph. Due to its rarity, no standard Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) management has been published. With this comes the dilemma of managing another case of vanishing right humerus in a 13 year-old male, right handed student, with normal growth and development. To date, this could be the third documented case in the Philippines, but the first with humeral involvement, and the first to manage using a customized humeral brace. The absence of the right humerus affects the bimanual overhead and tabletop activities of the patient, for which a custom-made humeral orthosis was provided to manage the limited activities. There were improvements in activities such as writing, card turning, stacking, and lifting objects of variable weights, as well as with hand dexterity as evidenced by the standardized hand function tests done prior and post brace fitting. Being a rare bone disease with no standard management and unpredictable course, cases are managed symptomatically. For this case of an absent humerus significantly affecting upper extremity function, orthotic management is one aspect that could be recommended to achieve positive functional outcomes.