The dawn of Teleradiology in the Philippines

Teleradiology  [tel′ĕ-ra′de-ol′ah-je] radiology done through remote transmission and viewing of images. (Mosby’s Medical Dictionary 8th Ed.)

I have been working for more than a year in this KPO Company here in The Fort, Taguig and we are also to be considered as part of Teleradiology. I will try to explain this kind of business the simplest way possible.

Radiologic procedures such as but not limited to X-rays, CTs, and MRIs are much common procedures performed in the USA and of course unlike here, that the most common and definitive procedure is X-ray. With millions of patients from Uncle Sam’s land getting scanned every day, the ratio of Radiologist vs. procedures to read have made favor to the birth of this business – Teleradiology. Images of the studies are being sent to the Radiologist (usually the Rad is reading from his home), and at his own convenient time at his own home, he can read ER/STAT cases and not only from one hospital. This kind of trade started late 90’s as the improvement of internet and different imaging program that could transmit via web (.jpg, .tiff).

This brilliant idea has of course gone out off shore. Where outsourcing is the next best thing in America at early 2000s, where mostly they outsource from India. (So it’s not only customer service that they ask from outsourcing also Knowledge.) With correct IT infrastructure, board-certified Radiologist, Medical Transcriptionist then voila! You can now provide a KPO – Knowledge Processing Outsourcing business. But that was the traditional outsourced KPO/Teleradiology from India offers.

From the definition of Teleradiology, radiology done remotely. Patients who waits 30-45 minutes after the images are ready to be read, are in fact waiting for the Radiologist thousands of miles away to finish reading those images!

How can this be of a great benefit to the Philippine healthcare industry? More jobs. Of course, this is another form of investment where healthcare workers such as: Radiologists, Nurses, Technologists and others could possibly enjoy a healthy and competetive job offers should this kind of business take it’s peak in our country. As of today, I haven’t heard of any other Teleradiology/KPO that is functioning as a whole (radiology group like) here in Manila. Perhaps there could be another Teleradiology out there too. But then again, this helps home grown Rads to get to be exposed to more cases, live emergency cases, complex and unsual cases compared to the ones that are readily available here.

American Dream – Pinoy Nurse : There’s More!

Nurses who graduated from the last 4 years are mostly working in a call center, working as a “volunteer nurse”, ojt nurse or undergoing the unending expensive trainings on different hospitals in Metro Manila and in the provinces.

Living the American Dream of becoming a pinoy nurse in the states is mostly from our parents. Or if not from them directly, someone else must have influenced us in going to this path. May it be a relative or a friend (sponsor) who was willing to send us to school, it wouldn’t really matter at all at his point in time. Bum is the  most of the nurses have become. Since thousands of young nurses and more are expected to be one, let me site few good reasons why this path is still the right path.

In my previous post, I have pulled out how much is the current salary of the USRNs. Now, there’s more!

Top 3 Nursing Careers: Highest Paying Nursing Careers

Clinical Nurse Specialist : the average annual salary is $70,000 – 80,000 (Php 3.2 – 3.75 Million per year). Although it is so difficult to quote the actual average of a CNS as this specialty has a very broad scope.

A clinical nurse specialist is an advanced practice nurse who also assists with specialized research, education, advocacy, and sometimes management. In addition to being Registered Nurses, Clinical Nurse Specialists also hold a Master’s of Science degree in Nursing (MSN) and they have completed the additional CNS certification for their respective area of expertise.

NP – Nurse Practioner: the average annual income  is $81,723 (Php 3.8 Million per year). I have personally worked with NPs and true, they act as a physician. Yes, they do! They can diagnose (order diagnostic procedures), prescribe and treat patients.

A nurse practitioner is an advanced practice nurse who has more clinical independence and authority than many other types of nurses such as registered nurses (RN) or licensed vocational nurses (LVN).

Nurse practitioners can diagnose and treat patients much like physicians can, and they can bill health insurers for their office time and procedures, although at a lesser rate than physicians. Therefore, NPs are direct revenue producers for practices and hospitals, and as such, they have even more job security than other types of nurses, and can demand higher salaries. NPs allow a medical practice to treat more patients and become more efficient without adding a proportionate amount of overhead expense to the practice.

CRNA – Certified Nurse Anesthetist: With an average annual salary of $100,000 or more, CRNAs have one of the highest salaries among the nursing field (Php 4.5-4.7 Million per year).

CRNAs basically work as an extension of anesthesiologists, delivering anesthesia during surgery. Becoming a CRNA could be a great option for someone who has an interest in surgery or who has good technical skills and is less interested in patient interaction or ongoing patient rapport or continuity of care. As a CRNA, your patients are “out cold” for most of the time you’re with them. For more information on how to become a CRNA, see the CRNA career profile.
So there in Uncle Sam’s promise land, non-acadmic career path for nurses offers so much more. If you want check more details of this highest paying nursing career click here. (source: about.com)
It has been my plan to take up my masters, I have told myself that I wont stop with my Bachelors. Talking to NPs everyday and learning that they are RNs too and that they function as a physician, makes this very interesting for me. I don’t want to be a CRNA, you get paid more but you will have to always miss the action behind sterile drape. So nurses, would you settle for mediocracy when you get there?

American Dream – Pinoy Nurses

The growing numbers of Filipino families that has one or more of its members that are new nurses or is taking up nursing has suddenly taken aback with the reality of achieving the great American Dream. Yes, we know all the crappy things that a novice nurse must go through before taking the very first step in becoming an actual and performing USRN. The backlog or “retrogression” in the US Immigration is the one that is believed that kills these young pinoy nurses to achieve this ambition. It creates this predicament – I would rather work now (probably in a call center) than spend more money, be a US licensed and end up waiting for the next 5 years in queue.

True, only about 20% of my nursing friends have taken and passed the NCLEX-RN exam and only 2 of them has priority dates. To rekindle that desire, the one that most of our parents felt about 5 or 6 years ago when they believed that nursing will save every pinoy household from poverty, let me show how much the current US nurses are earning  now.

Looking at this USRN salary table, if I will start working in the states today, I would be earning PHP 7,840.oo per day or PHP 156,816.00 per month with an average 40 hours work per week. So this amount I believe does not include the income beyond 40 hours, overtime and night differential benefits, and other income should I want to do part-time job.

After 20 years of experience, based on this table I would be earning PHP 221,616.00 per month in 40 hours work per week. I know, looking at these figures will surely makes us smile. The average salary in a private hospital here in Manila is around PHP 11,000.00 per month with more than 40 hours work per week.

So now we may know why our parents strongly imposed to us to take this career path. Not primarily because of the money alone, but of course there’s more stability of future and more chance of achieving the much coveted American Dream.

Pinoy 911 – Manong Emergency lang po

This entry I posted last September 2009 from my multiply account, click here to view it. (if you still log in to your multiply acct)

Every time my schedule is 6am for my work in The Fort, I always had to wake up early in the morning, syempre para makarating on time considering na mejo malayo rin ang workplace ko from where I live.

One very early morning, sa jeep papuntang east avenue galing Vluna, biglang may 2 mamang pumara ng jeep galing sa tricycle sabi nung mama “Manong Emergency pahatid po sa East Ave”. Meron silang buhat na walang malay na binatilyo na I think about 14-15 y.o. Nilatag nila yung katawan nung bata sa gitna nung jeep. Gingising nila yung bata and they were saying na “Tol gising tol! Nawalan na nga tayo ng kapatid susunod ka pa?” Then sabi nung isa “Tol gising na si kuya ganyan din namatay nung naka inom nawalan ng malay”. Mejo nagulat ako kase sa itsura nung bata, hindi sya yung tipong nagpapakalango sa alak. Kaya sabi nung driver “Mga naka inom pala kayo eh, lasing lang yang bata”

Syempre out of my curiosity I asked “Bakit ho, ano nangyari?” Sabi nung pinaka matandang kasama nila, “Nag iinom po kami bigla nalang natumba ayaw nang gumising, tapos parang hindi na makahinga”. Nilapitan ko yung bata to check, amoy alak nga talaga. Sabi nung isa, “Doctor po ba kayo? Tingnan nyo naman po kung buhay pa.” Sabi ko, “Hindi po ako doktor”. When I checked for carotid pulse, meron naman I also felt na parang constricted yung throat and pagtingin ko sa chest parang aang bilis ng compression. Then after ilang seconds, nag seizure na yung bata. Yung dalawang kasama were shouting “Tol wag kang mamamtay ***ang Ina mo! kaya mo yan” Sabi ko sa driver Manong bilisan nyo pa para madala agad sa ER. Pag dating sa East Avenue Medical Center dali-dali nilang binuhat yung bata I just reminded them na ingatan yung ulo baka tumama sa dulo ng jeep pag hila. Ayun, sakto naman na salo yung ulo nung isang pasahero kase bigla hinila nung isa nilang kasama.

I didnt know what happened next after they brought the kid inside the ER. Sabi nalang nung Driver “Gago yan mga yan, iinom-inom tapos di pa la kaya.”

Hayy, dito lang sa pinas meron nyan! I just hope na naging maayos din yung bata nung dinala sa ospital. I mean whatever underlying condition he has that made his seizures maybe triggered by alcohol or what not, I just hope he’s in a better state now and lessons should also be learned.

Sabi nga ni manong driver – H’wag iinom pag hindi kaya! 😉

My First Entry – At last!

I am so glad that finally I have my official BLOG website! Thanks to wordpress! This Theme is infact what I had in my mind when I was thinking how my site should look like.

When I was thinking of my domain name for this wordpress site, I wanted something that sounds new and different and yet still me. David is my second name and friends from grade school used to call me by that name. And I am totally hopefull that as my name implies, this blog will create a big impact.

The header – it’s the London Eye and the famous River Thames in London, UK. Well this is the spot that I did sure miss when I visited last year. First, it was autumn and the weather was unpredictable and going outdoors when the sun was down was totally crazy.

So many things I wanted to write and share about. Ok, I wanted to start with posting my previous posts from my multply that I shared last year.