Information and communications technology needs assessment of Philippine rural health physicians

The Philippine health care system is crippled by massive health worker migration and inequitable distribution of manpower resources, and appropriate use of information and communications technology (ICT) in health is seen as a tool for bridging the gap created by this situation. One such appropriate use of ICT in health is Telehealth, which is defined as ldquothe integration of telecommunication systems into the practice of protecting and promoting healthrdquo. The present research is an ICT needs assessment of a select group of rural health physicians in the Philippines called Doctors-to-the-Barrios (DTTB), and employs the self-administered questionnaire approach in gathering data. Most of the responses were described qualitatively. Results suggest that while mobile phones and personal computers have made considerable incursion into remote communities, this is not paralleled by landline telephone infrastructure and the Internet, with adverse consequences on DTTBspsila ability for making distance referrals. Furthermore, it is felt that much still needs to be done by the government in terms of developing ICT for delivering health care in the country.