June 7, 2021
By Francesca Kapunan
Ligtas na Balik Eskwela. Listed are the 24 Higher Educational Institutions approved by CHED last March 2021 for limited face-to-face classes. Only 3rd and 4th-year students from the institutions’ allied health programs were permitted to conduct their hands-on training and laboratory classes. (Infographic by Francesca Kapunan)
If the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t happen, fifth-year physical therapy student, Eliot Holgado would be shuffling between hospitals and sports teams, wearing his pristine white uniform, with a clipboard in hand, tending to his patients. Instead, he spends around two to five hours per day sitting in front of a computer, completing his internship online.
Holgado was in his fourth year in UP Manila’s physical therapy program when the pandemic struck last March 2020. Like everyone else, he seemed to have a clear plan in mind that was cut short and derailed.
Short term: he planned on embarking on a road trip with his friends, a short getaway hours from Manila to break the monotony of long hours spent in the classroom. Long-term: finish his fourth year in college, then work on his thesis while also attending to the children, elderly, and everyone else in between who are in need of physical therapy.
But with a stay-at-home order and suspension of face-to-face classes, Holgado had to transition to distanced learning. For some programs, online learning, although far from ideal, is feasible. However, the most glaring question with Holgado’s situation is: how do you learn a program reliant on the study and practice of the human body online?
“Marami sa amin ang nahirapan, kasi yung fourth-year subjects namin, mga lab classes. You practice movements, parang kung nagtra-training ka sa sports…. so nung naging online lahat, that was taken away from us and we had to rely only on verbal and visual cues, ” Holgado shares.
(A lot of us had a difficult time, since our fourth-year subjects were lab classes. You practice movements, like you would when you’re training in sports. So when we transitioned to online, that was taken away from us and we had to rely only on verbal and visual cues.)
Originally set to complete his pre-internship classes last May 2020, Holgado's department had to compress two and a half months worth of lessons within a month so their batch could proceed with their internship proper.
“Hindi siya natuloy, pero nagkaroon kami ng bridging program for that one subject which was important. Yung subject kasi na yun is our final gateway to internship, kasi lahat ng inaral namin before and pinapractice namin ngayon (as an intern), doon pinagsasama lahat.”
(We didn’t go through with it, but we had a bridging program for that one subject which was important. That class was our final gateway to internship, because all the lessons we studied before and practiced presently (as an intern) were integrated into that subject.)
Holgado reflected on the advantages and disadvantages of learning online, given the different components of physical therapy students need to develop.
“Syempre makakaaffect siya (online learning), but not in the way that most people may think. Hindi siguro siya in a bad way. In PT we have a thinking component, or the clinical reasoning, and we have movement component, the tactile. We do guarding, basically for patients na nahihirapan tumayo, nahihirapan gumalaw. Hindi namin napractice ‘iyon (guarding)… and I think that’s what we’ll have to catch up on pag bumalik kami sa face-to- face.”
(Of course online learning plays an effect, but not in the way most people would think. I wouldn’t say it in a bad way. In PT we have the thinking component, or the clinical reasoning, and we have the movement component, the tactile. We do guarding, basically for patients who have a difficult time standing up and moving. We didn’t practice that (guarding).. and I think that’s what we’ll have to catch up on when we return to face-to-face.)
Still, he is optimistic that the skills he refined through learning online can be a great advantage for when he’ll finally do a face-to-face internship.
“I would say na since naexhaust kami ngayon sa clinical reasoning, then ‘iyon yung magiging gains mo pag bumalik. Hindi kami mahihirapan o matataranta mag-isip. Kung sa face to face internship, sabay mong aaralin yung paggalaw at pagdevelop ng clinical reasoning mo. Ngayon, stinop mo yung paggalaw, focus everything sa thinking part, and I think that will affect the way we do things in the future.”
(I would say that since we exhausted our clinical reasoning skills, then that would be our gain once we return. We won’t have a hard time thinking. Traditionally with a face-to-face internship, you study movement while developing your clinical reasoning. But now, studying movement has been put to a halt, and everything is focused on the thinking part, and I think that will affect the way we do things in the future.”
These days, Holgado schedules online meetings with his patients every week or so, making sure they are following the at-home rehabilitation program he personalized for them. His patients vary from the elderly who are afflicted with stroke, to kids with cerebral palsy and down syndrome.
Holgado shares that one of the most fulfilling moments in his online internship was managing an elderly patient with balance problems who he worked with for three weeks. He details his elation with handling a patient with such a cheerful disposition.
“Siya yung nauna kong nakasama ng matagal… I really got to build rapport and enjoy lang ako with her sa sessions. At the end ng therapy namin, my last day of the rotation, she wished me well talaga. Nagthank you siya, tapos sabi niya, sana raw next time pag physical therapist na talaga ako, magkita ulit kami. So nung sinabi niya ‘iyon, sobrang ‘wow’, sarap sa pakiramdam.”
(She was the first patient I worked with for a long period of time… so I really got to build rapport and I really just enjoyed our sessions together. At the end of our therapy, my last day of rotation, she really wished me well. She thanked me, and she told me she wishes to work with me once I’m a licensed Physical Therapist. When she said that, I felt really happy.)
Despite the setbacks and struggles with online learning, Holgado says that his experience has been meaningful nonetheless. “Yung internship journey ko so far, hindi ko inexpect, but it has been very memorable. The people I have met, they made my internship journey memorable, kahit nasa screen lang. I didn’t expect it talaga, but I’m happy with how it has been given the situation.”
(My internship journey so far was unexpected, but it has been very memorable. The people I have met, made my internship journey memorable, even if it was just through the screen. I really didn’t expect it, but I’m happy with how it has been given the situation.)
As part of the minimum health standards imposed by UP Manila for students who will be undergoing face-to-face internships, Holgado already received his first shot of AstraZeneca in the Philippine General Hospital last March 19, 2020.
Last October 2020, Philippine General Hospital (PGH) already received the go signal for face-to-face classes in the medical program by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious. This permission, however, does not extend to undergraduate courses within the College of Allied and Medical Professions (CAMP), which is Holgado’s college.
An update from CAMP’s administration last April 22 stated that the possibility of face-to-face classes is highly dependent on the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) go signal. One of the causes for postponement is the delay in acquiring the needed ventilator for CAMP’s Clinic for Therapy Services, which is required by CHED for approval.
“Sabi nila noon, baka May pwede na. Tapos hindi raw, and baka June na lang. Tapos hindi ulit, so baka July. Pustahan tayo December ‘yan,” Holgado says jokingly. The eagerness to work face to face is apparent in Holgado’s disposition. But with no set date, it’s a waiting game for when he’ll finally be able to tend to his patients physically.
(They told us before that we might be able to go back by May. Then that changed, and maybe June. Then the plans were canceled again, so maybe by July. I’ll make a bet that we’ll probably be back by December.) SYNC IN
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