Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) has always enshrined malasakit or compassionate care as one of its core values. The hospital ensures that this is reflected in every aspect of its operation, especially when it comes to patient services.
And this compassion remained steadfast even, and especially, amid an unprecedented pandemic. With the rise in cases of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the implementation of community quarantine measures during the earlier half of the year, CSMC realized early on that many of their patients will be unable to travel to the hospital for their consultations or diagnostic tests. To address this, CSMC implemented and ramped up some innovative solutions to ensure that patients can still access the quality healthcare that the hospital has been known for.
One of the groundbreaking services that they rolled out is the CSMC e-Consult service. It is an online application that helps patients continue medical consultations without physically being in their doctors’ clinics. The application enables them to register, select the doctor they want to consult with, book an appointment, and even pay with just a few taps. The consultation is also done through video conferencing.
“We launched the CSMC e-Consult just one week after the country was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine in March,” Cecile Marie Escaño, VP & Head of Information Technology said. “And since then we have seen a steady increase in the number of patients who use this platform to ensure that they continue to receive the highest quality healthcare even during the height of the pandemic.”
In just a few months, consultations have grown exponentially through the CSMC e-Consult. The platform has now enabled around 8,957 consultations with 31% repeat patients since the service was established. The number of doctors that use the platform has also dramatically increased from 20 to 264 doctors with 51 different specializations. And now even patients who are in other countries like Italy, US, Guam, Canada, Ireland, Indonesia, UAE, Qatar and Myanmar use the platform to meet with their doctors here in the Philippines.
As COW boasts of numerous offerings including laboratory services, cardiology procedures, and pulmonary procedures, among many others, patients recognized the value and ease provided by this mobile medical facility. Aside from these services, one thing that really sets COW apart from others like it is the availability of doctors for procedures requiring specialized care like IV insertions and medication management especially for vulnerable patients.
Aside from launching e-Consult, CSMC ramped up the operation of Cardinal On Wheels (COW), an innovation that brings the hospital’s world-class brand of service. The service was launched in April 2010, and it has seen great reception since then. But since the implementation of community quarantine measures, more patients have decided to avail of the services of COW.
“Caring for our patients during this difficult period is an impetus for us to be more creative and resourceful in ensuring that they have access to the quality healthcare they need. These programs are our way of demonstrating our mission to be responsible and to be responsive to everyone our hospital serves, whatever the situation is,” Escaño concluded.
For more information about these services and others that CSMC offers, please visit https://cardinalsantos.com.ph/. CSMC is also on Facebook, like and follow them at www.facebook.com/CardinalSantos.
