Telementoring for surgeons in remote PH regions now a reality

PHOTO: Dr Villaroman as the mentor providing guidance to the thoracic surgeon where to go & what to do.

Advertisement

As an archipelago, the Philippines faces a unique set of challenges when it comes to healthcare. One of the most prevalent is the lack of access in the nation’s remote areas. Patients lack access to doctors, while doctors lack access to  proper equipment and training.

To address this, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Philippines is collaborating with the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) through two key initiatives — Remote Surgical Education and Collaboration in Thoracic Surgery (RESECT) and Remote Education in Thoracic Anesthesia Program (RETAP).

Through RESECT and RETAP, multiple surgeons in remote locations are able to virtually interact and undergo telementoring through the innovative Proximie platform, which allows them to virtually “scrub in” to any operating room anywhere in the Philippines. 

“As a company in the business of caring, we are committed to supporting hospitals and institutions in continuing the education of surgeons. Part of this commitment is our support for the Department of Surgery of Lung Center of the Philippines in advancing the surgical skills of thoracic surgeons in remote areas,” says Dino Alejandro, commercial lead, Ethicon Philippines for J&J MedTech Philippines.  “We are reimagining every part of the healthcare experience to save lives—and ignite all that’s possible in every body.”  

J&J Philippines has three main goals for this solution: to drive the advancement of surgical skills of surgeons in remote areas via the virtual scrub-in; to simulate face-to-face skills and procedure training during “live” surgery; and to help build the confidence of surgeons operating in remote areas (in the absence of a mentor surgeon in the operating room).

LCP is the first hospital in the Philippines to use Proximie under RESECT and RETAP, which were launched in October last year.  Through these programs, LCP  and J&J Philippines, , have collaborated with 30 thoracic surgeons and anesthesiologists across the Philippines, including Metro Manila, Zamboanga, Palawan, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Baguio.