HIV care providers: An intranet for sustained health initiatives of the Philippines, Inc.

• Main Authors: De San Jose, Maria Sharmila Trinidad, Fernando, Marina Margarita Santiago, Mercado, Irish Marie Elmido
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Intranets (Computer networks); Primary health care > Philippines; Sustained Health Initiatives of the Philippines, Inc (SHIP)
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/8022
• Institution: De La Salle University

Sustained Health Initiatives of the Philippines, Inc. (SHIP) is a non-stock no-profit organization that offers clinical aid and primary care to people living with HIV. Aside from providing care services, SHIP also caters to doctors through capacity building. The objective of the capacity building program is to make HIV treatment and care more widely available by strengthening the skills of care and support teams for HIV primary care (SHIP, 2016, p2.) With this, SHIP holds an upskilling workshop annually to update and develop the skills and knowledge of doctors in providing care to people who are at risk or living with HIV/AIDS. The communication audit revealed that SHIP has no systematic way of communicating and addressing the concerns of the doctors on HIV care after attending the workshop. Therefore, the thesis addresses this organizational communication problem by creating an intranet together with an instructional video and a manual for sustaining the intranet. The goal of the interventions is to allow SHIP and doctors to systematically share HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and information with one another. The Information Systems Success Model (DeLone & McLean, 2003) and the Social Capital Theory (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998) were used to develop the intranet. The intranet was constructed with respect to the elements of systems quality and information quality and the effect it has on the knowledge sharing behaviors (knowledge donating and knowledge collecting) of the doctors. The data gathered showed that there was an increase in the knowledge sharing behaviors of the doctors after being exposed to the intranet. Moreover, the presence of the intranet affected the knowledge collecting of doctors more than knowledge donating. The intranet enabled the doctors to gain more HIV/AIDS-related information, engage in medical discussions, and socialize with their fellow doctors. Through this, the goal of SHIP for the capacity building program has been met, giving the doctors an opportunity to learn new knowledge and skills on HIV/AIDS that will be useful in their practice. The thesis showed the importance of a communication medium that will allow doctors to share their knowledge with colleagues regardless of time and place. Given that doctors are the main care providers and how HIV/AIDS cases are dramatically increasing in the Philippines, immediate, updated, and first-hand information is needed by the doctors for them to address their patients. Thus, by maximizing the potential of technology, the creation of an intranet allows doctors to access knowledge and be informed on HIV/AIDS primary care at their own convenience.