Maravilla Joemer, Catiwa Jayson, Guariño Rebecca, Yap John Federick, Pagatpatan Celso, Orolfo Diana Dalisay, de Silos Jeriel, Leigh Ma Cynthia, Babate Jerome, Lopez Violeta
Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network, Australia.
Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, Australia.
Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2023 Jan;30:100585. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100585. Epub 2022 Sep 16.
Our study aimed to explore the experiences of stakeholders from local government units, health facilities and higher education institutions on the delivery of non-COVID-19 health services after the initial wave of the pandemic.
Twenty-nine public health workers, thirteen university staff, and four hospital administrators in the Philippines participated. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, we analysed transcripts from six focus group discussions conducted online between March and June 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic made the routine health programs inaccessible due to hesitancy among patients to visit health facilities, a shift in public health priorities, and lack of students to augment the existing workforce.Public health workers reported stress and mental health exhaustion. Apart from fear of infection during service provision, public health workers and university staff experienced work overload, pressure to learn new technology, and webinar fatigue. Mental health problems have surfaced as health workers and young people have become more affected while support services remain insufficient.Public health workers have reported actions to maintain service delivery in the new normal such as use of telehealth and social media. However, issues on workforce wellbeing and digital equity posed adaptation challenges. Participants suggested partnership with higher education institutions as pivotal to position local health systems towards recovery.
The rapid change in the service landscape highlights the importance of sustainable partnerships, effective workforce management, equitable digital innovations, and promoting mental wellbeing to preserve community, school, and occupational health and rebuild resilient local health systems in low-resourced areas.
This research is proudly supported by the Australia-ASEAN Council, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
我们的研究旨在探索地方政府单位、卫生机构和高等教育机构的利益相关者在疫情第一波过后提供非新冠肺炎卫生服务方面的经历。
菲律宾的29名公共卫生工作者、13名大学工作人员和4名医院管理人员参与了研究。我们采用描述性现象学方法，分析了2021年3月至6月期间在线进行的六次焦点小组讨论的文字记录。
由于患者对前往卫生机构犹豫不决、公共卫生优先事项的转变以及缺乏学生来扩充现有劳动力，新冠肺炎疫情导致常规卫生项目无法开展。公共卫生工作者报告了压力和精神健康疲惫。除了在服务提供过程中担心感染外，公共卫生工作者和大学工作人员还经历了工作负担过重、学习新技术的压力以及网络研讨会疲劳。随着卫生工作者和年轻人受到的影响更大而支持服务仍然不足，心理健康问题浮出水面。公共卫生工作者报告了在新常态下维持服务提供的行动，如使用远程医疗和社交媒体。然而，劳动力福祉和数字公平问题带来了适应挑战。参与者建议与高等教育机构建立伙伴关系对于推动地方卫生系统走向复苏至关重要。
服务格局的迅速变化凸显了可持续伙伴关系、有效的劳动力管理、公平的数字创新以及促进精神健康对于维护社区、学校和职业健康以及在资源匮乏地区重建有复原力的地方卫生系统的重要性。
本研究得到澳大利亚-东盟理事会、澳大利亚政府外交与贸易部的大力支持。
