Makati Medical Center-Philippines bags two awards at the Healthcare Asia Awards 2018

The hospital is recognised for Patient Safety Initiative of the Year and Customer Service Initiative of the Year.

For almost five decades, the Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed) has been committed to providing premium and personalised healthcare services in the Philippines. Located at the heart of the country’s primary central business district, MakatiMed delivers quality service through its highly skilled and board-certified physicians, compassionate nurses, competent allied healthcare professionals and management staff, modern facilities, and state-of-the-science medical equipment and technology. The hospital is accredited as a Mother-Baby Friendly Hospital under the Mother-Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (MBFHI) program of the Philippine Department of Health (DOH), which is globally implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO). MakatiMed is also accredited by international certification body, Joint Commission International (JCI), in acknowledgement of its world-class services and continued dedication to safety and superior patient care.

An increase in the rate of Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries (HAPI) led the Nursing and Patient Care Services of MakatiMed to develop the Nursing Clinical Care Bundles for HAPI prevention or the Pressure Injury Care Bundle in 2014. The main goal of the Pressure Injury Care Bundle is to decrease the HAPI rate, properly manage and allocate resources, and to enhance staff competence in pressure injury prevention, recognition, and treatment. After three years of development, the program was fully implemented in 2017.

Several initiatives were implemented as part of the T.I.M.E. (Turning, Inspection of Skin, Modern Dressing, and Effective Patient & Family Education) Pressure Injury Clinical Care Bundles. First was the implementation of the Pressure Injury Prevention and Management policy to standardise the prevention and care of all pressure injuries. Second was the formation of the Pressure Injury Core Team who serves as subject-matter-experts with regards to wound assessment and prevention. The Pressure Injury Core Team is composed of Nurse Educators, Quality Officer, Policy Officer, and Nurse Managers. They conduct frequent rounding to all patients at risk of developing pressure injuries, patients with community-acquired and suspected hospital-acquired pressure injuries. They also assess and monitor patients with pressure injuries, including taking photos of wounds upon admission (community-acquired) and suspected hospital-acquired pressure injuries. All registered nurses undergo Wound Care Education Program to equip them with knowledge-based skills that they can use in assessing and managing different wound conditions.

The “Skin Champions”, on the other hand, are registered nurses who serve as resource persons in the assessment, prevention, and identification of patient’s risk of developing pressure injury. Using Teach-Back, Skin Champions and the Pressure Injury Core Team provide Pressure Injury Education Brochures to instruct patients and family/caregivers about warning signs on pressure injury development, common bony areas of pressure injury development, and preventive interventions. The development of a hospital acquired pressure injury brings with it both a financial impact to a health institution and a performance or quality of care impact. The utilisation of the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) process helps the registered nurses gain insight into the development of pressure ulcers through a review of the timeline of events.

MakatiMed customer care has also been outstanding. The hospital recognises the important role that patients play in the continuous improvement of its services by giving its clientele the opportunity to raise their concerns and provide feedback. In 2015, the complaints-handling process is enhanced by the creation of the ACTS. The programme allows real-time notification of complaints received, time-bound submission of responses from concerned parties, and monitoring compliance to set standards and parameters in complaints management. ACTS is a one-stop shop for handling patient complaints – from recording of the complaint until its resolution. ACTS aimed to provide a more efficient, targeted and effective complaints resolution platform to achieve immediate results.

Because of ACTS' implementation, the following were significant improvements in complaints management: easy retrieval of historical data of complaints, automatic email notification for new complaints to Senior Quality Management Council, senior management access to analyse the nature and trends of complaints and immediate recommendation(s) on complaints received, data analysis and comparison, period-to-period analysis, standardised the process of complaints-handling across the entire hospital, and improved the turn-around-time in resolution of complaints.

With these two noteworthy programs, the Makati Medical Center won the Patient Safety Initiative of the Year and the Customer Service Initiative of the Year.

The Healthcare Asia Awards 2018 was held on 23 May 2018 at the Conrad Centennial Singapore.

This year's nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Abhay Bangi, Partner, Life Sciences & Healthcare Lead, Ernst & Young; Mohit Grover, Life Sciences & Healthcare Leader, Deloitte, and; Sabrina Tay, Partner and Deputy Industry Lead, Healthcare RSM Singapore.

Check out the event photos during the awards night here.

If you would like to join the 2019 awards and be awarded as one of the most outstanding healthcare companies in the region, please email Marianne at [email protected].