REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The quality of public health is a major policy issue in every

country, whether developed or developing. A healthy community reflects a
sense of mental and physical well being and is the foundation for achieving
all other goals.
Hospital
Hospital is an institution for health care providing patient
treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always
providing for longer-term patients stays (Kumrawat, A., 2009).
According to World Health Organization (WHO, 2016), hospitals
play an important role in the health care system. They are health care
institutions that have an organized medical and other professional staff, and
inpatient facilities, and deliver medical, nursing and related services 24
hours per day, 7 days per week.
Hospitals serve as the locus of health care delivery in the
Philippines (Lavado, R. F., et al, 2010). In addition, a hospital must provide
healthcare services that are characterized by high standards of quality and
efficiency for the patients. At the same time, the patients and their families
should feel that they are in an environment which supports the individual
patients need for comfort and safety.

Davao Oriental Provincial Hospital

Source:http://davaocitybybattad.blogspot.com/2012/08/davao-orientalprovincialhospital.html
The Davao Oriental Provincial Hospital is a Capitol-run hospital in the City of
Mati that provides the highest quality medical care to poor patients who are unable to afford
the services of private hospitals.

The hospital started its operation on July 1, 1971 with only 25 beds in a rented
building in Panamin, Barangay Matiao in Mati, Davao Oriental with Dr. J. Antonio Tagabucba
as chief of the hospital. By the turn of 1976 in January 1, the hospital had acquired its
present location, a five-hectare land donated by General Hans Menzi, and the capacity was
increased to 75 beds. And a year later in January 1, 1977, the provincial hospital increased
its bed capacity to one hundred.

It is recognized that in both developed and developing countries,

the standard of health services the public expect are not being provided. A
very high proportion of the population in many developing countries
especially in rural areas, do not have any access to health services, which
can be used by only the privileged few and urban dwellers.
Although there is the recognition that health is a fundamental
human right, there is a denial of this right to millions of people who are
caught in the vicious circle of poverty and ill-health. In short, there has been
a growing dissatisfaction with the existing health service and a clear demand
for better health care.
The victims of poor medical care are those who have to rely on
government hospital, which are overcrowded, short staffed and have meager
funds to provide for medicines and health supplies (Saeed, 2005).
The Davao Oriental Provincial Hospital which caters mostly
Matinians with increasing number of poor families are mostly ill-equipped,
with inadequate supply of drugs and medical supplies. Private hospitals that
provide better health care are beyond the reach of the poor.
According to Population Census (POPCEN, 2000), among the
11 municipalities comprising Davao Oriental, Mati, the provincial capital, was
the highest in terms of population. It was followed by Lupon, Baganga and
Governor Genoroso. Boston had the smallest population. As of August 2015,

the total population of Davao Oriental was 558,958 based on the 2015
Census of Population (POPCEN 2015).

As stated by Muthoni et al (2014), crowding in the medical

center or hospital causes a series of negative effects such as medical errors,
poor patient treatment, and general patient dissatisfaction. The number of
patients in the hospital has recently increased in most industrialized country
which leads to discrepancy of supply and demand (Wargon and Casalino,
2010).
To cope with this situation, acute care stretchers in the
Emergency Department and are kept in emergency departments as
corridor patients. The direct result is a block to access of care in the
Emergency Department and increased Emergency Department wait times.
The root of overcrowding in most province medical center is the
lack of availability of acute care beds or hospital wards in the increasing
number of patients. Increasingly hospitals have more patients that acute
care beds than there are beds to accommodate them.
Patients must often wait hours before being seen by a doctor and
far longer before being transferred to a hospital bed. This result is not merely
inconvenience but rather a degradation of the entire experience quality of
care suffers, and patients safety is endangered.

Overcrowding is a system problem. It varies by province and region but is

an issue across the globe. Patients must often wait hours before being seen
by a doctor and far longer before being transferred to a hospital bed. This
result is not merely inconvenience but rather a degradation of the entire
experience quality of care suffers, and patients safety is endangered.

The root of overcrowding in most province medical center is the lack

of availability of acute care beds or hospital wards. Increasingly
hospitals have more patients that need acute care beds than there are
beds to accommodate them.
To cope with this situation, acute care stretchers in the
Emergency Department and are kept in emergency departments as
corridor patients. The direct result is a block to access of care in the
Emergency Department and increased Emergency Department wait times.
The scope and emphasis of a public health program are
necessarily influenced by the changing characteristics of the population it
serves. The rate of population growth affects long-range planning of
community health and medical facilities. Therefore, the rapid growth of
population is proportional to its need of health services.
The government is primarily responsible for the provision of
healthcare. The government institutions principally cater to the needs of
mass population at subsidized rates. Since the patients are in great numbers,
and there is a shortage of the facilities available, the quality of healthcare
provided by the Government is not satisfactory.

Hospitals offer a varying range of acute, convalescent and terminal care using diagnostic and curative
services in response to acute and chronic conditions arising from diseases as well as injuries and genetic
anomalies. In doing so they generate essential information for research, education and management.
Traditionally oriented on individual care, hospitals are increasingly forging closer links with other parts of
the health sector and communities in an effort to optimize the use of resources for the promotion and
protection of individual and collective health status.