Cast & Curious

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  • Practical Habits To Thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) post pandemic healthcare industry

    Practical Habits To Thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) post pandemic healthcare industry

    Developing practical habits can significantly contribute to a healthcare professional’s ability to thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) post-pandemic healthcare industry. Here are some practical habits to consider:

    1. **Stay Informed:**
    – Dedicate time each day to read industry news, research papers, and updates on healthcare trends.
    – Follow reputable healthcare blogs, journals, and online forums to keep up with the latest developments.

    2. **Prioritize Continuous Learning:**
    – Set aside regular time for continuing education, whether through online courses, webinars, workshops, or seminars.
    – Embrace a growth mindset by seeking out opportunities to expand your knowledge and skill set.

    3. **Plan and Prepare:**
    – Develop contingency plans for various scenarios to be ready for unexpected changes.
    – Anticipate potential challenges and have strategies in place to address them.

    4. **Build Resilience:**
    – Engage in stress-reducing practices such as meditation, deep breathing, exercise, and hobbies.
    – Reflect on your experiences and learn from setbacks to develop emotional resilience.

    5. **Adaptability and Flexibility:**
    – Embrace change willingly and be open to trying new approaches.
    – Regularly assess and adjust your strategies based on evolving circumstances.

    6. **Effective Time Management:**
    – Prioritize tasks and allocate time for essential activities, including patient care, administrative tasks, and self-care.
    – Use productivity techniques like time blocking to manage your schedule effectively.

    7. **Data Utilization:**
    – Regularly review patient data, outcomes, and trends to identify areas for improvement.
    – Use data-driven insights to refine your treatment plans and enhance patient care.

    8. **Networking and Collaboration:**
    – Establish relationships with colleagues within and outside your field to exchange knowledge and insights.
    – Attend conferences, workshops, and networking events to broaden your professional network.

    9. **Effective Communication:**
    – Practice active listening when interacting with patients, colleagues, and stakeholders.
    – Clearly convey complex medical information in a way that is easily understood by patients and their families.

    10. **Set Clear Goals:**
    – Define short-term and long-term goals for your professional development and patient care.
    – Regularly review and adjust your goals to align with changing circumstances.

    11. **Innovative Thinking:**
    – Allocate time for brainstorming and exploring creative solutions to healthcare challenges.
    – Encourage your team to share innovative ideas that could improve processes or patient outcomes.

    12. **Self-Care Routine:**
    – Establish a consistent self-care routine that includes exercise, proper nutrition, sleep, and relaxation.
    – Prioritize your well-being to maintain the energy and focus needed in a demanding industry.

    13. **Stay Adaptable to Technology:**
    – Embrace new healthcare technologies and software to enhance patient care and streamline administrative tasks.
    – Regularly update your digital skills to stay relevant in a tech-driven environment.

    14. **Reflect and Learn:**
    – Set aside time for self-reflection to evaluate your experiences, successes, and areas for improvement.
    – Use lessons learned to refine your approach and make informed decisions.

    15. **Stay Patient-Centered:**
    – Continuously remind yourself of the importance of patient well-being and satisfaction.
    – Tailor your care approach to meet the unique needs and preferences of each patient.

    By incorporating these practical habits into your daily routine, you can develop a strong foundation for thriving in the dynamic and challenging post-pandemic healthcare landscape.

  • How healthcare social media campaigns may improve provisions of health in a devolved health system

    The lack or ineffective social marketing strategy (supply side barrier) and lack of information on benefits and availment process (demand side barrier) are a few of the identified restrictions to the use of health services in complex decentralised health systems such as the Philippines.

    The Department of Health (DOH) is the lead agency responsible for the regulation and supervision of the country’s health system. It manages national policies, develops national plans and establishes health technical standards and guidelines to regulate the country’s health sector.

    The Local Government Code of 1991 devolved the provision of health services, particularly at the primary and secondary levels, through the local government units (LGUs). Hence, health service in the Philippines is managed through provincial, municipal and barangay local government offices. Provincial and district hospitals are the responsibility of provincial governments while the Rural Health Units (RHUs) and Barangay Health Stations (BHS) are managed by municipal government units.

    Complex internal developmental differences among geopolitical regions hamper provisions of health two decades after the implementation of the local government code. Less developed regions usually suffers most of the negative effects of institutional fragmentation. These least developed regions also is the least likely to recover or lags behind because it lack or poorly manages resources and is usually inefficient in allocating health resources.

    Cetrángolo et al identified supply and demand side barriers that restrict the use of health provisions in the Philippines. The lack or ineffective social marketing strategy and lack of information on benefits availment process are included in these restrictions. Grundy’s echoed the same observations in a local study.

    This author has practiced for more than ten years in areas with health units ran by local governments and in urban center with health institutions ran by DOH. While there are LGUs with efficient and effective local health councils who clearly benefitted from the devolution of health, other regions aren’t as fortunate. Case in point,  the WHO Safe Surgical Checklist.

    The WHO Safe Surgical Checklist 2009
    The WHO Safe Surgical Checklist 2009

    The WHO Safe Surgical Checklist is the single most cost effective way of minimising post operative complications reducing death and morbidity by at least 36% on the average. No other cheap, readily and sustainably implementable guideline (except maybe the handwashing guide) had so much impact on health as this checklist.  It has been incorporated into standard DOH standards operating room “toolset”, requiring every hospitals with operating rooms to incorporate such checklist in their standard operating room manuals. Yet many hospitals who have operating rooms rarely take advantage of this readily available and cheap guideline. Why is that?

    Cognisant of these complex problems, efforts has been made in the past two decades to either strengthen  or amend the local government code that devolved health provisions to LGUs. Bills calling for returning provisions of health back to the national lead agency (DOH) are now pending in the House of Representatives. It is not the purpose of this article to weigh the complex pros and cons of such amendments. Until such amendments or repeals are enacted into law, we have to deal with effectively delivering health down to grassroots level in the context of a decentralised health system.

    An effective social media campaign may narrow regional differences in the provisions of health and address the two barriers I mentioned at the start of this article.

    Join #HealthXPh this Saturday August 26, 2017 9pm Manila time as we discuss how a social media campaign may improve provisions of health in the context of a devolved health and regional developmental differences.

    • T1. Is there a role for social media as social marketing strategy for effective provisions of health in a decentralised health system?
    • T2. If you are the chief social media strategist what will your primary strategy be?Targeted? Regional? National?
    • T3. How would you measure the effectiveness of such healthcare social media strategy? Indicators? 

    Please give your final thoughts on ways by which social media could be a part (or not) of the social marketing strategy for health units or agencies in a decentralised health system like the Philippines.

    References:

      1. Cetrángolo,O., Mesa-Lago,C., Lazaro,G., Carisma,S. Health Care in the Philippines: Challenges and Ways Forward. 2013
      2. Grundy J1, Healy V, Gorgolon L, Sandig E. Overview of devolution of health services in the Philippines. Rural Remote Health. 2003 Jul-Sep;3(2):220. Epub 2003 Jul 1.
      3. Haynes, A.B., Weiser, T.G., Berry, W.R., Lipsitz, S.R., Breizat, A.H.S., Dellinger, E.P., Herbosa, T., Joseph, S., Kibatala, P.L., Lapitan, M.C.M., Merry, A.F.: A surgical safety checklist to reduce morbidity and mortality in a global population. N. Engl. J. Med. 360(5), 491–499 (2009)
      4. Atienza, Maria Ela L. 2004. “The Politics of Health Devolution in the Philippines: Experiences of Municipalities in a Devolved Set-up.” Philippine Political Science Journal 25 (48): 25–54.10.1080/01154451.2004.9754256

      

  • How I live multiverses in one (bonedoc) life

    “Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was a comedy writer (wrote the famed Poor Richards Almanac) before he discovered electricity and became one of the founding fathers of the United States of America?”

    “Not until now that you said it to me. He was?! Interesting!..”

    Two hour laters, I bade my travel friend goodbye, pick my 30 liter backpack and I got off the back of a pick up truck. “Thank you” I said to the driver.

    “I am tito, vagabound”

    Dusting off an inch thick of dust off my cargo shorts and shirt, I am now standing in front of wooden house- a port just on the edge of the Amazon River Basin. One local sitting on a bench on the side of entrance stood up and headed my way. Long grey hair with a cowboy hat and puffing cigarette, he waived at me to come near him. He was limping, a bit.
    “You Tito?” He asked.
    “Yes, I am”. I replied. Then I saw that stoic grin in his face.
    “I’m Ricardo” There’s a scar an inch long just below his right cheek.
    “You really a travel writer photographer?” He quipped .

    Travel photographer on a motorcycle…I wish.

    I said “Yeah, sort of. I wash dishes too, do a bit of carpentry, tend a garden, till the soil, plant maize corn and sometimes do stand up comedy. I could even stitch up  wounds over extremities. “ I volunteered.

    “Really?” He said. And take photos too of me? with that small camera?” I said yes. “I want many pictures of me”. Said the grinning Ricardo.
    Half fish Not Ricardo.

    Ricardo is a Tupian local and will be my foster brother in my months long stay in the Amazonia. I will work part time (2-3 days, 4 hour daily work/week) in his local refreshment canteen. He will help arrange trips  for me to some of the lesser known tribes in the Amazon rainforest.

    “You came from a very far country-Philippines eh?” he said, the wrinkles in his forehead seemingly squeezing a better answer from me. “Yeah!” I answered. “Why would you leave that place? Why go here?!”
    widelakematutum
    Asik Asik Falls Alamada
    “I’m not leaving my place. I’m just here to really really explore what the world is outside of my comfort zone” I replied.
    holoncamping
    SECRETBEACH
    SAD
    bigsmile
    He has this puzzled look at me but smiled suddenly. “Crazy Gringo you are eh?”

    “I am. I am. Maybe.”
    Travel, shoot, work part time and live close to people, culture and nature I haven’t seen my entire life. Yes, this is the Ameridian leg of my vagabounding.

    Well, that was before I got admitted to college. An alternate verse I so feared of going, I would have tried this right after high school.  See Iceland’s Aurora Borealis, climb Kilimanjaro,  hike the Appalachian, photograph sunsets in the Sahara. Write a life hack book in the mountains of Tibet, motorcycle across China, all in search for awesomeness this world has to offer and what can I create to offer mine.

    That I realized after going through med school shit scared and got lucky. Again, only after. Funny how one discovers alterverses only after you thread one path and learn life skills.  When you’re done with one path, you discover that most of the patterns and frameworks you’ve acquired are familiar and replicable in other possible multiverses for you.  You only have to be human and cultivate the childlike fascination to creativity, mindfulness and simple living. Hence,

    Live simply
    Stay Healthy,
    Adventure often
    Hike farther

    That is my long mantra for living. And it is exactly replicable in all possible multiverses for me. Why would design my way of life to be that way? The simple truth is that I never lost hope that those alterverses will be in my life now or in the near future. Maybe. Just note the breadcrumbs in my life’s works. Looked familiar?

    “Will you take a look at mamita’s son leg? There’s a wound there that wont heal since 4 years ago”. Ricardo asked me. “Yes of course!” I replied.

    Ah, I am a physician, a travel and landscape photographer, blogger, hiker and serve humanity. All in one verse. Absolutely liveable.

    (Note: The story here is fictional, but what I do is not.)

  • FAQ: Blog Rounds 3.0 Physician Creatives

    Three things about the previous editions (1.0/2.0) of Blog Rounds:

    1. It was fun!
    2. I met interesting, creative people there. Take a look at this bloggers list!!
    3. The no holds barred, long form blogging is sooo cool!

    I still have the archive list of the weekly blog rounds, but some of the links are not active anymore. 🙁
    But, just this month, TBR alumni wanted to resurrect the weekly blog rounds.  Looks like I’m not the only one who missed the weekly blog challenge.

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

    What is Blog Rounds 3.0- Physician Creatives ?

    This is a weekly * online, grand rounds of blogs authored by Filipino* physicians. There was 2.0 and 3.0 version of TBR in the past, basically with the same format of weekly blogging rounds.

    What topic(s) does Blog Rounds 3.0- Physician Creatives write about?

    Physician bloggers write weekly about a healthcare related , creative aspect (content) of being a physician. This is usually based on a theme decided by the designated host each week*

    Who may join the blog rounds? 

    If you are a Filipino* physician and have a blog * you may join the weekly rounds and be a host* blogger too.

    What do I need to do to join the blog rounds?

    First, write an introductory post on your blog indicating why you’re interested in joining.
    Second, join this Facebook group and place your web and introductory post link there.
    Third, choose your hosting schedule in the scheduling calendar here*. The rest of the guides are given as we grow in this fun writing activity.

    Who are the “host blogger” and what does he/she do?

    Host blogger is a designated weekly “moderator” of the online blog rounds. He/she has the privilege of choosing the topic for that week.
    Host bloggers are listed on schedule announced each week via the group page.
    Once the topic is chosen, the host blogger post the “call for articles/blog post” on her blog (and the link on the group page) by Sunday evening (11:59 PM) Manila Time.  T
    he host gathers / reads/distills/synthesizes all the participating posts by friday evening at 11:59PM same week.
    He or she then writes the grand rounds synthesis in a blog and post it before Sunday morning.
    The host blogger has the sole authority and responsibility of choosing the topic, announcing it, receiving the post contributions, distilling it, and posting his/her synopsis of each post as he/she deemed fit for his/her topic of choice.

    Who are the “participant bloggers” and what does he/she do?

    Participating bloggers writes about the topic for the week, post it in his/her blog and the link to host bloggers call for articles comment portion*
    He/she takes note of the deadlines- both for the call and submission.
    Writes one blog post entry per rounds.
    Recent posts between 500 and 1000 words are preferred
    Posts are to be written for a general audience and may be medical or non medical, depending on the category or topic chosen by the host blogger.
    Participating bloggers are encouraged to comment on each others blog posts.

    Key points:
    Keep your topics and post interesting for everyone.
    Be consistent. Participate each week. Comment. Share posts.

    Lastly:
    If you got questions, or if you want to host TBR, comment below! TBR 3.0 is continually looking for hosts blogger!

  • Part IV: Assigning SMART metrics to social media channels

    Ideally, there should be a standard of metrics to measure each of this social media channels. However, such industry benchmarks have yet to be standardized across a fast changing platform that is social media.  It all boils dow to what or how you (and your advocacy) define key metrics and should be at least “aligned” with your advocacy’s goals. Let me introduce, SMART Metrics.

    • S-SPECIFIC
      At the very least, such metrics should be specific and sensitive enough to detect changes across and within the different social media channels.
    • M-MANAGEABLE
      KISS or the keep it simple and manageable, is all the more important to logistically challenge advocacy group and should be a key factor in choosing which metric demonstrate early success.
    • A-ACTIONABLE
      Of course measuring impact on the different channels is useless if you can’t act on it. A metric should trigger corresponding action to achieve your advocacy/ social media goals. Can you improve on what this metric have measured?
    • R-RELEVANT
      I cannot overemphasize the fact any metric should be relevant to your overall advocacy/social media goals. Does it add value to your advocacy? Will your advocacy group be interested in it?
    • T-TIME BOUND
      I keep on repeating that you choose metrics that demonstrate early success. Giving your metrics “deadlines”. Otherwise, it will just be meaningless flutter of data.

    Here are other goal setting strategies on social media according to buffersocial.com. Note it also characterize key metrics.

    This figure illustrates the social media channels and the key metrics along the social media funnel. Choose SMART Metrics:)
    nk06105categoriesofmeasurement

    I’m not going delve deeper into formulas and calculations for each of these metrics. Suffice to say, there are existing  metrics online to measure social media success. Doing a SWOT analysis of each of your goals and aligning these with whats important for your advocacy help you choose which metrics to use. Once you’ve identified your metrics, finding your formula should be easier than you think.

    For our next activity, identify metrics from the figure above and list it down beside the different segments of the social media funnel. Again, choose one that potentially demonstrate immediate success.

    After this activity, you are ready to monitor performance for each of these segments in the social media funnel that adds value to your social media strategy and advocacy goals!