NUCare: A Framework for Mobile and Web Application for Online Consultation in One University in Manila

Telemedicine, a term that originated in the 1970s, which means “healing at a distance,” represents the use of ICT to enhance patient outcomes by expanding access to health care and medical information. Telemedicine helps provide more productive and patient-focused medical services to patients who experienced physical constraints and financial problems to attain good medical assistance. The goal is to reduce the cost of medical service and the time consumed in traveling between health care practitioners and the patient to hospitals, clinics, or centers. Some universities in the Philippines have authorized medical center facilities. Still, most universities do not have health services they can offer to their college students. However, the medical services provided by HEI are only limited, and it is significantly different from the services offered by the medical clinics and hospitals. In due course, the researchers present a framework to enhance the university's concept of consulting virtually between the doctor and the patient through text, audio, or video consultation. The “NUCare” is a web and mobile application that can provide online consultation between doctors and patients, including the generated e-prescription, laboratory referrals, announcements, and a chatbot that can answer the predefined FAQs regarding the system or COVID-19. Aside from that, the whole online consultation process can be recorded if the patient gives permission, and both doctor and patient can have access to replay it if needed. This feature will be very convenient for them because it can be accessed easily compared to the traditional physical consultation.