The Paediatrics Hospital No 1 in HCM City (Photo: VNAHCM City, (VNA) - Hospitals in HoChi Minh City have been striving to reach five goals to improve the quality ofexaminations and treatment, including safety, patient satisfaction, efficientmanagement, effective services, and appropriate costs and prices.
Eight years ago, the city Paediatric Hospital1, for instance, set up a Red Alert emergency aid procedure to save youngpatients.
The procedure has won first prize in acontest on activities that have improved quality of examination and treatment,organised by the city’s Department of Health.
Dr Nguyen Thanh Hung, head of the PaediatricHospital, said the procedure had helped reduce the number of complicatedadministrative procedures, which in turn had improved the rapid response ofemergency aid.
“It has been very effective in savingpatients with many injuries,” Hung said.
In 2013, for example, two children werebrought to the hospital for emergency aid after being stabbed by theirneighbour nine times with a knife.
The hospital’s Red Alert procedure wasactivated and within only 15 minutes, doctors and nurses were available toprovide emergency aid, conducting a five-hour operation in which two childrenwere saved.
“In the last several years, the departmenthas expanded the procedure, which now links hospitals in the city,” he said.
Last year, the Ministry of Health instructedall hospitals in the country to carry out the procedure to treat patients inneed of emergency aid.
In addition, the Thu Duc District Hospital hassuccessfully piloted an electronic medical records project, creating a databaseon patients’ health to enhance the tracking of their condition and treatment.
Nguyen Minh Quan, director of Thu DucDistrict Hospital, said the hospital’s doctors were ready to share theirexpertise with other hospitals in the country.
“Databases between hospitals are connected,which helps reduce the need for repeated tests and makes it easier to carry outtreatment at family medicine clinics,” Quan said.
Among other efforts, Cho Ray Hospital and GiaDinh People’s Hospital have used software for the control of antibiotics, whileBinh Dan Hospital has used robots to assist 20 surgeries.
The hospitals’ activities were honoured at anawards ceremony held in HCM City for a contest to select outstanding activitiesrelated to examination and treatment quality.
Many of the hospitals have carried outactivities to increase patient safety. For instance, Nguyen Trai Hospital’straditional medicine ward uses a plastic card attached to the patient’s bedthat notes the number of needles used in acupuncture treatment.
This alerts other medical personnel involvedin the procedure about how many needles that need to be removed.
Dr Tang Chi Thuong, the deputy head of theDepartment of Health, said at a meeting reviewing activities and the contest,that the department had issued a handbook on what health facilities should doto improve quality of treatment.
The handbook is based on 80 criteria onhospital quality, Thuong said.
The department has also increased trainingfor more than 1,600 people and staff working in wards and divisions who are incharge of quality management at hospitals.
A database of 3,399 treatment guidelines forhospitals from the city to grassroots levels has been completed in order tostandardise treatment.
Thuong said that successful programme modelsshould be replicated at other hospitals.
Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Department ofHealth Examination and Treatment at the Ministry of Health, said: “Patients inthe city as well as the southern region have received benefits from theseimproved activities.”
Dr Nguyen Thi Thoa, deputy head of the city’sHealth Department’s medical affairs division, said that it had assessedhospitals’ activities for improvement last year.
The assessment focused on five groups ofcriteria: patient satisfaction, human resources, professional activities,development of medical specialities, and quality of treatment.
The results showed that city-level hospitalssuch as 115 People’s Hospital, Gia Định People’s Hospital, Tu Du ObstetricsHospital and Trung Vuong Hospital had high and comprehensive improvement.
Thoa said those hospitals had average scoresof 3.43 out of a maximum of five.
District-level hospitals had an average scoreof 2.93 and private hospitals an average score of 2.77.
The department has instructed city-levelhospitals to continue training and technical assistance for district-levelhospitals, especially District 3 and 9 hospitals, which had a score of lessthan 2.5, she said.
Private hospitals, especially those in theplastic surgery and cosmetics field, are in need of improvement as well.Eighteen out of 46 of them in the city scored under 2.5.-VNA
Eight years ago, the city Paediatric Hospital1, for instance, set up a Red Alert emergency aid procedure to save youngpatients.
The procedure has won first prize in acontest on activities that have improved quality of examination and treatment,organised by the city’s Department of Health.
Dr Nguyen Thanh Hung, head of the PaediatricHospital, said the procedure had helped reduce the number of complicatedadministrative procedures, which in turn had improved the rapid response ofemergency aid.
“It has been very effective in savingpatients with many injuries,” Hung said.
In 2013, for example, two children werebrought to the hospital for emergency aid after being stabbed by theirneighbour nine times with a knife.
The hospital’s Red Alert procedure wasactivated and within only 15 minutes, doctors and nurses were available toprovide emergency aid, conducting a five-hour operation in which two childrenwere saved.
“In the last several years, the departmenthas expanded the procedure, which now links hospitals in the city,” he said.
Last year, the Ministry of Health instructedall hospitals in the country to carry out the procedure to treat patients inneed of emergency aid.
In addition, the Thu Duc District Hospital hassuccessfully piloted an electronic medical records project, creating a databaseon patients’ health to enhance the tracking of their condition and treatment.
Nguyen Minh Quan, director of Thu DucDistrict Hospital, said the hospital’s doctors were ready to share theirexpertise with other hospitals in the country.
“Databases between hospitals are connected,which helps reduce the need for repeated tests and makes it easier to carry outtreatment at family medicine clinics,” Quan said.
Among other efforts, Cho Ray Hospital and GiaDinh People’s Hospital have used software for the control of antibiotics, whileBinh Dan Hospital has used robots to assist 20 surgeries.
The hospitals’ activities were honoured at anawards ceremony held in HCM City for a contest to select outstanding activitiesrelated to examination and treatment quality.
Many of the hospitals have carried outactivities to increase patient safety. For instance, Nguyen Trai Hospital’straditional medicine ward uses a plastic card attached to the patient’s bedthat notes the number of needles used in acupuncture treatment.
This alerts other medical personnel involvedin the procedure about how many needles that need to be removed.
Dr Tang Chi Thuong, the deputy head of theDepartment of Health, said at a meeting reviewing activities and the contest,that the department had issued a handbook on what health facilities should doto improve quality of treatment.
The handbook is based on 80 criteria onhospital quality, Thuong said.
The department has also increased trainingfor more than 1,600 people and staff working in wards and divisions who are incharge of quality management at hospitals.
A database of 3,399 treatment guidelines forhospitals from the city to grassroots levels has been completed in order tostandardise treatment.
Thuong said that successful programme modelsshould be replicated at other hospitals.
Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Department ofHealth Examination and Treatment at the Ministry of Health, said: “Patients inthe city as well as the southern region have received benefits from theseimproved activities.”
Dr Nguyen Thi Thoa, deputy head of the city’sHealth Department’s medical affairs division, said that it had assessedhospitals’ activities for improvement last year.
The assessment focused on five groups ofcriteria: patient satisfaction, human resources, professional activities,development of medical specialities, and quality of treatment.
The results showed that city-level hospitalssuch as 115 People’s Hospital, Gia Định People’s Hospital, Tu Du ObstetricsHospital and Trung Vuong Hospital had high and comprehensive improvement.
Thoa said those hospitals had average scoresof 3.43 out of a maximum of five.
District-level hospitals had an average scoreof 2.93 and private hospitals an average score of 2.77.
The department has instructed city-levelhospitals to continue training and technical assistance for district-levelhospitals, especially District 3 and 9 hospitals, which had a score of lessthan 2.5, she said.
Private hospitals, especially those in theplastic surgery and cosmetics field, are in need of improvement as well.Eighteen out of 46 of them in the city scored under 2.5.-VNA
VNA
