Intel-Gapuz Center collaboration boon to quality healthcare

MANILA, Philippines - More than 10 years ago, talented author and nurse entrepreneur Ray A. Gapuz experienced rejection.

He was a fresh graduate then, and he wrote a book because it was his dream to join the circle of Mosby’s, the world’s leading health science publisher.

Gapuz’s work, however, was politely turned down, not because of the content but because the publication company found it “too innovative.”

“During that time, their format was really the formal, traditional type and mine was a little trendy so it did not conform to their taste,” Gapuz said.

A true sport, Gapuz just let the rejection roll off his back and kept marching on.

Years later, a very unfortunate event became a blessing in disguise and served as an opportunity for Gapuz to be known worldwide.

 “The perception in the business industry is, when you are the subject of intrigues, maybe you are good,” Gapuz said. “So what happened was, one of the US’ top 10 publications asked me if they can publish one of my books. I wrote a book titled NCLEX 311 (later retitled it to “NCLEX RN in a flash) using functional concepts and with a flow chart format. They published it, it did well, even ranking no. 17 in 2009 among best-selling books,” he related.

“I guess it became customers’ favorite because it did not compete with, but rather complemented existing books,” Gapuz said.

“Mosby’s saw this. They paid me a visit and asked me if I can also write for them – two books, one for local and another for international release. So I wrote a book, launched it last November at the Cuneta Astrodome and it was a pre-launch sellout. The first 3,000 copies that should have been just for the launching were paid even before it came out of the printing press,” Gapuz shared.

“Since it was launched, we’ve sold close to 40,000 copies. It’s a bestseller,” Gapuz said.

He cited a testimony given by one reader, who passed the nursing board exam on the eighth try. The reader did not attend review classes, and only read the book a week before the exam.

The book, titled Essential Concepts for the Philippine Nurse Licensure Exam, was awarded at the International Book Awards, winning under the health medical reference category.

“It just feels great that something that has been rejected more than ten years ago has been resurrected and in fact became an award winning book,” Gapuz said.

With his latest achievement, Gapuz reiterated his vow to support the enhancement of the quality of nursing education in the country, particularly through the integration of information technology into the education system.

Digital health education in schools

The RA Gapuz Review Center, owned by Ray, together with United Laboratories, San Carlos University, Salus Healthcare Informatics, Asianic Distributors Ng Kai Development Corp., 3Com and Intermec, is collaborating with Intel Microelectronics Philippines in bringing “Intel Digital Health” to Cebu and Manila through two free summits tailored specifically for hospitals and schools for nursing, pharmaceutical and other related medical and healthcare courses.

 “We wanted to bring IT technology to the grassroots and the way to do it is to introduce it in schools that can be potential users of existing technology,” Gapuz said, noting that healthcare is now one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world.

 In the “IT in Healthcare Education” Schools Summit held last June 19 at the RA Gapuz Review Center at the 5th floor of SM City Manila, school and information technology administrators discovered compelling reasons for using information and communication technology in and out of the classrooms. Focusing on how IT can be harnessed by schools to deliver high-quality but cost efficient education, the summit introduced solutions that will enable students taking up healthcare courses to become globally competitive and better equipped with knowledge, skills and technology.

Sessions in the summit include information on the requirements of the Commission on Higher Education for nursing schools and other related fields, the challenges and state of readiness in teaching skills, IT architecture in schools, and other issues on students’ access to IT facilities.

Meanwhile, the hospital summit dubbed “Business Value of Healthcare IT,” will provide hospital owners and administrators the opportunity to learn more about global trends in the latest healthcare technologies, gain knowledge on how to assess their own hospital’s digital maturity and be able to synthesize the available technologies from Intel and its partners in the healthcare system.