Distance Education in General Surgery - An Accomplishment - A Legacy
From 1991 to 1995, I developed a distance education program on general surgery in Zamboanga Regional Hospital (ZRH), now Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC). This was an off-shoot of an invitation from my pediatrician friend Dr. Fortunato Cristobal, to help in the training program of ZRH surgical residents and in the process, its services. In 1991, the Department of Surgery of ZRH was not and could not be accredited by the Philippine College of Surgeons (the accrediting body then - nowadays, the Philippine Society of General Surgeons) as there was a lack of diplomates in general surgery to serve as faculty of the program. There was a lack before as no diplomates of general surgery from other cities and provinces wanted to go to Zamboanga City to practice because of the peace and order condition back then.
In the process of helping, I developed a 5-year structured distance education (as I was based in Metro Manila) in general surgery fulfilling the requirements of the surgical curriculum set by the PCS. This was in the hope that the graduates would be allowed to take the certifying exam of the Philippine Board of Surgery. With local trainees and graduates passing the PBS exam, there would be additional diplomates in Zamboanga City to fulfill the usual faculty requirement (3) of the surgical training program of ZRH.
Thus, I developed the distance education in general surgery in ZRH, complete with a formal curriculum and with innovative teaching-learning and evaluation tools and activities. Distance education, because the faulty were coming from Manila and conducting training courses every 1-2 months. Distance education also, because there were teleconferences (teleaudioconferences) conducted.
I wrote a thesis on the distance education of general surgery in ZRH and used it to obtain my degree in Master in Science in Clinical Medicine (General Surgery) in 1998 from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine.
Note: there was a hitch and frustration though. After the course, the Philippine College of Surgeons did not allow the graduates to take the PBS exam (reason: it would set a precedence - graduates of none traditional way of implementing a surgical curriculum being allowed to take the PBS exam).
At any rate, I am happy I was given an opportunity to develop a distance education course in general surgery, the first of its kind in the Philippines. I felt it was an accomplishment that will serve as a legacy in surgical education and to the ZRH (ZCMC) and to the patients of ZRH (ZCMC).
THE THESIS (Excerpts)
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Graduation Ceremonies - May 28, 1995 - Lantaka Hotel in Zamboanga City
From April 1991 to May 1995, I conducted the General Surgery Course in Zamboanga City Medical Center (formerly Zamboanga Regional Hospital). A graduation ceremony was done on May 28, 1995, held in Lantaka Hotel in Zamboanga City. Invited to the occasion were Dr. Johnny Nanagas, then Undersecretary of Health for Hospitals; Dr. Roman Belmonte, then Vice-President of the Philippine College of Surgeons; and Dr. Jose Cueto, Chairman of the Training Committee of the PCS.
I retrieved recently the Betamax video and converted it to DVD. I then converted the DVD files into MPEG by 10-min segments and uploaded them in YouTube. (August 1 -2, 2013).
Here are the segments uploaded into YouTube (7 segments):
ROJOSON ZCMC GEN SURG COURSE GRADUATION 1995 OPENING CEREMONIES
ROJOSON ZCMC GEN SURG COURSE GRADUATION 1995 – COURSE DESCRIPTION
ROJOSON ZCMC GEN SURG COURSE GRADUATION 1995 – ALEX CERRILLO CERTIFICATION
ROJOSON ZCMC GEN SURG COURSE GRADUATION 1995 – AWARDING CERTIFICATES
ROJOSON ZCMC GEN SURG COURSE GRADUATION 1995 – JIMMY LU’S RESPONSE
ROJOSON ZCMC GEN SURG COURSE GRADUATION 1995 – JOE CUETO
ROJOSON ZCMC GEN SURG COURSE GRADUATION 1995 – CLOSING-BAYER-DINNER
Other References:
https://rojosonzcmcsurgerycourse.wordpress.com/
https://rojosonzcmcsurgerycourse.wordpress.com/category/sessions/
ROJ@18nov22