With the country just emerging from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the clamor to resume outpatient services is becoming more insistent. The UP-PGH Bayanihan Na! Operations Center (BNOC) hotline 155-200, which was initially meant for COVID-related matters, eventually also served as a means to assist patients whose treatment had been abruptly interrupted due to the lockdown. By their own initiative, knowing the patients’ travails and suffering brought about by the discontinued health care, the various clinical departments attempted to restore some semblance of consultation services by establishing their own brand of telemedicine utilizing the platforms that were most accessible to their patients.
Now that the lockdown is being lifted gradually, the Outpatient Department (OPD) needs to reopen by phases, too. It is evident that the OPD processes will have to adhere to the basic principles to avoid disease transmission — wearing of face masks, physical distancing, and limiting face to face contact, being the top priorities. Telemedicine, which was slow to evolve in the country, is now favored to reduce the need for patients to go to the health facility and possibly contract infectious diseases. Hence, the PGH, in collaboration with the UP Department of Industrial Engineering, developed the Online Consultation Request and Appointment (OCRA) System — a platform accessed through the website pghopd.up.edu.ph. There are step-by-step instructions that will guide patients on how to schedule appointments with the concerned departments.
Patients who have limited or no access to internet may still call the hotline 155-200 to register for appointments. A 48-hour grace period is requested to ensure proper triaging and the patients will be notified of their schedules within that time frame. Even requests for schedules of laboratory tests, radiologic examinations, and Medical Social Service evaluations can be made via the OCRA.
The OCRA hopes to achieve a seamless scheduling and appointment system, resulting in markedly improved waiting times and better service to the PGH patients. This is but a part of the so-called “New Normal” that we expect to take place in the post-pandemic era. We are indebted to our friends from the UP Department of Industrial Engineering for sharing their expertise in creating this wonderful tool.
Dr. Esther Saguil | Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 8
