Theoretical Framework
Embedded Files
Poverty remains to be a major hindrance to healthcare accessibility because according to the 2023 Social Weather Stations, 51% of Filipinos in Metro Manila rated themselves as poor or below the poverty line. Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization (2018), “The poorest Filipinos spend around 60 percent of their family’s income on food. With over half of healthcare costs paid out-of-pocket, they simply cannot afford to fall ill: money that is meant for food will be diverted to health.” Based on these statements, it may be concluded that one of the most evident reasons and root causes as to why quality healthcare remains inaccessible to most Filipinos is poverty since many impoverished citizens of the country earn little to no income each day.
Theoretical Framework
The Philippines’ healthcare system is regarded as one of the nation’s biggest challenges as poor communities like the Gawad Kalinga (GK) community continue to lack access to high-quality healthcare services. Consequently, this research is made with the aim of providing people with a reliable system or app that offers real-time and accurate data on health centers to help with the needs of the GK community, the target population of the research at hand. The study is significant to the patients as it makes healthcare as accessible as it should be to those who do not have the means of doing so. The salient contribution of the study is its impact on the medical field as it gives healthcare workers a big help in assisting them in beginning and carrying-out the required medical processes.
With these information in mind, this research paper aims to create an offline telemedicine app that can identify the prevalent health issues in the community, tailoring the app's content and features based on the identified needs and preferences of the Gawad Kalinga community by focusing on providing hospital availability, scheduling post-prognosis, and collecting medical history and, in particular, the symptoms that the user is currently experiencing.
Procedural Framework
The study followed a descriptive research design that is quantitative in nature in order to analyze the relationship between a user’s state of living and their preferences with the application. A descriptive research design refers to the use of data or information collected from the sample population to create generalizations about a larger population or explain a certain phenomenon. With this, a survey was conducted to find trends, connections, and patterns to create an effective and accessible telemedicine application.
In order to carry out the research, the researchers decided to conduct a survey that contains four questions that focus on how users perceive the application and whether or not they would use it. To be more specific, the survey contained the following questions: (1) Would you use the app?, (2) Who do you think would benefit from the app?, (3) Do you think that the app would meet its objectives?, and (4) Do you wish to have any comments and suggestions? With these questions, the researchers collected quantitative data, which was then analyzed to come up with conclusions or generalizations about how the public may perceive and accept the app. As the research was conducted with the use of a survey, the participants of the study were grade 12 students from Saint Theresa’s College of Quezon City. To be more specific, as the batch consisted of 6 sections with an average of 40 students per section, the researchers decided to ask 20 students per section to answer the survey which would amount to getting half of the batch’s perception of the application.
Procedural Framework
The data for the study was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive interpretation centered on comprehending the patterns shown by the data. This was accomplished by collecting the frequency of each answer for each survey question and calculating the standard deviation of the data set. Based on the responses of all survey respondents, the inferential interpretation followed the same pattern in order to develop a generalization on whether or not the application will be used as predicted, rather than as intended. The application can be finalized based on these results, as the concerns expressed through the forms will be addressed.
Consent, anonymity, and confidentiality were used as ethical considerations in this study. Before participating in this research, students who were requested to fill out Google forms were asked for their permission. Because the major purpose of the study is to obtain qualitative data from the survey, disclosing each participant's name is unnecessary. The researchers also promised the participants that any data or information they gave would be used purely for the purpose of the study and would not be shared or used for any other reason.
Based on the results, there is a minor division on the whether or not the application will be beneficial or essential as depicted in the standard deviations per question. However, with the specific answers and frequencies in mind, it is still safe to assume that the application will be deemed beneficial for most, if not all, potential users. The use of frequency and standard deviation in retrieving descriptive statistics is essential as it is through this that we are able to examine the general perception of people to the idea of launching a new and accessible prognosis telemedicine application for all. Despite the initially negative impressions that high standard deviations could impose, it is important to note that there is a much higher frequency of positive ratings and expectations for the application. In terms of the beneficiaries of this application, most, if not all, responses gravitated towards GKalusugan being beneficial for all, especially the elderly and children.
The results are statistically significant as with the use of standard deviation which is the choice between whether the application will be beneficial or not helped the researcher to know about what the people think about the application. These findings imply whether the application will be able to meet its objectives and be helpful to the Gawad Kalinga Communities.
One of the objectives of the study is to increase the response speed of people when they feel a physiological irregularity and to help the users with their sense of relaxation. The results showed that the majority of the respondents agreed that it did meet its objectives and it increased the speed of people when they felt the physiological irregularity. However, one of the results suggested that it would be hard to implement since it is suggested that the app should be used by persons that are educated enough to know how to operate the application.
In the last section of the survey, most of the respondents did not leave any comments or suggestions but one respondent did and commented that “I think that this app would be hard to implement given that some illnesses have the same symptoms so that could cause confusion if the person is not educated enough in describing their symptoms.” This comment serves as a point of improvement so that GKalusugan can be made into an application that is friendly for the masses.
The study GKalusugan: A Localized Health Database and Hospital Proximity System’ aims to answer the following research questions: (1) How effective is the app in increasing the response speed of people when they feel a physiological irregularity? (2) How does the app help the user in terms of establishing a sense of urgency or relaxation? and (3) How accurate is the data provided in terms of calculating the probability of a user manifesting a certain disease based on the symptoms they have input? These questions served as a guide to enhance comprehension of the application's purpose and explore the possibilities of advancing this technology in the future for broader implementation by upcoming generations. The outcomes successfully pinpointed existing gaps in the application, offering answers to the research questions and also insights on potential enhancements for future research.
The findings in this study relate with previous research in the field in a way that almost every study has the same objective, which is to aid the lack of access of Filipino people, especially the marginalized to medical assistance and services. It agrees that telemedicine applications exist to influence people to manage their health, reduce their expenses, and provide them access to the healthcare system. The findings demonstrate that telemedicine apps are acknowledged, accepted, and beneficial, particularly for the underprivileged population, for a variety of reasons, including affordability and ease of use. Additionally, it could actually aid future app developers in such a way that they could design the app based on the users’ preferences, their target group, how it could easily identify symptoms and illnesses, and how it could be accessible for different age groups. The key limitations of this study are that the application’s functions are limited as it aims to be accessed offline, and that there are margins of error in formulating prognosis due to the human variable of describing sensations. These limitations would directly affect the interpretation of this research’s results in the sense that the level of accuracy that the prognosis produced can suffer once the patients have received formal medical care from medical institutions.
The results of this study suggests that creating such applications requires precision and a well-structured development process to ensure that users receive accurate and reliable results. It also emphasizes that comprehensive research about illness and health conditions is vital to avoid providing inaccurate information and results. It is advisable to consider developing the application using advanced technologies and materials, ideally with the guidance of experts in the field, such as nurses or doctors to enhance its accuracy, and effectiveness and to guarantee that the application aligns with clinical standards. As for the application itself, it would be beneficial to develop and test it by collaborating with local healthcare providers or clinics to test the application with real patients. This would offer a more comprehensive evaluation of its effectiveness in real-world medical scenarios. This approach would also enable researchers to identify what needs to be improved and recognize the existing gaps within the application which would help in easily improving the application. This study was able to imply that despite the ambition to enhance healthcare accessibility, it is still advisable to opt for direct consultation with professionals as they can provide diagnosis and explanation about the patient’s condition, supported by reliable and accurate evidence.
Audrienne
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