The Ministry of Health has for the first time issued a set of criteriato assess hospitals towards improving the quality of services providedand increase patients' satisfaction.
Introducedearlier this month, the set has a total of 83 criteria, including 19norms related to patient care, 14 to workforce development, 38 toprofessional quality, eight to quality improvement, and four toprofessional knowledge. Each criterion will have five levels: bad,average, moderately good, good and very good.
NguyenTrong Khoa, deputy director of the Ministry's Medical ServicesAdministration, said that so far, the assessment of hospitals was basedon a year-end inspection that most passed with excellent results. Thenew norms would make the assessment more detailed, accurate and closerto reality.
At present, hospitals across the countryare carrying out self-assessments based on the new set of criteria.Next year, the ministry will set up inspector delegations to go to everyhospital and re-assess their services. They will observe the work ofdoctors and nurses, check hospital records and interview patients aswell as their relatives.
"Our main goal is to findquality gaps between hospitals and then search for measures to improvethem. However, we think that no hospital can meet all the 83 norms,"said Khoa.
He said the ministry would collectopinions from hospitals and agencies and consider amending the criteriato have them match actual situations.
However, somedoctors and patients have already said they feel it is impossible forthe hospitals to meet the norms. They believe most of hospitals can onlyreach average levels now.
Associate ProfessorNguyen Tien Quyet, director of the Vietnam-Germany Hospital, said thatmany of the norms were too difficult for hospitals to implement. Hecited as an example the criterion that hospitals must automaticallydeliver medicines to different wards and rooms. "No hospital in thecountry can do it," he said.
He said that yetanother criterion, which says patients should be allowed to wait theirturn for health checks in well-equipped rooms and are taken to wardsbased on their condition was also impractical.
Inmany big hospitals like the Bach Mai Hospital and National Hospital forObstetrics and Gynaecology, patients were having to wait in corridors,so "it is certain that it will take hospitals a long time to reach thisnorm," Quyet said.
He said his hospital's self-assessment based on the norms showed that it only reached the average level.
"The current criteria are based on international norms, so they shouldbe adjusted to suit domestic realities, otherwise, many hospitals willbe ranked as bad, denying the hard work they do," said Quyet.
Ngo Hong Mai, a doctor with the Bach Mai Hospital, agreed with Quyetsaying not many hospitals were equipped to satisfy even apparentlysimple conditions like "expanding the programme to have patients washtheir hands".
The number of toilets and taps inhospitals were limited compared to large number of patients they had totake care of, said Mai, adding that h ospitals also did not have enoughnurses to ensure that patients' nutrition needs are taken care ofduring their treatment.-VNA
Introducedearlier this month, the set has a total of 83 criteria, including 19norms related to patient care, 14 to workforce development, 38 toprofessional quality, eight to quality improvement, and four toprofessional knowledge. Each criterion will have five levels: bad,average, moderately good, good and very good.
NguyenTrong Khoa, deputy director of the Ministry's Medical ServicesAdministration, said that so far, the assessment of hospitals was basedon a year-end inspection that most passed with excellent results. Thenew norms would make the assessment more detailed, accurate and closerto reality.
At present, hospitals across the countryare carrying out self-assessments based on the new set of criteria.Next year, the ministry will set up inspector delegations to go to everyhospital and re-assess their services. They will observe the work ofdoctors and nurses, check hospital records and interview patients aswell as their relatives.
"Our main goal is to findquality gaps between hospitals and then search for measures to improvethem. However, we think that no hospital can meet all the 83 norms,"said Khoa.
He said the ministry would collectopinions from hospitals and agencies and consider amending the criteriato have them match actual situations.
However, somedoctors and patients have already said they feel it is impossible forthe hospitals to meet the norms. They believe most of hospitals can onlyreach average levels now.
Associate ProfessorNguyen Tien Quyet, director of the Vietnam-Germany Hospital, said thatmany of the norms were too difficult for hospitals to implement. Hecited as an example the criterion that hospitals must automaticallydeliver medicines to different wards and rooms. "No hospital in thecountry can do it," he said.
He said that yetanother criterion, which says patients should be allowed to wait theirturn for health checks in well-equipped rooms and are taken to wardsbased on their condition was also impractical.
Inmany big hospitals like the Bach Mai Hospital and National Hospital forObstetrics and Gynaecology, patients were having to wait in corridors,so "it is certain that it will take hospitals a long time to reach thisnorm," Quyet said.
He said his hospital's self-assessment based on the norms showed that it only reached the average level.
"The current criteria are based on international norms, so they shouldbe adjusted to suit domestic realities, otherwise, many hospitals willbe ranked as bad, denying the hard work they do," said Quyet.
Ngo Hong Mai, a doctor with the Bach Mai Hospital, agreed with Quyetsaying not many hospitals were equipped to satisfy even apparentlysimple conditions like "expanding the programme to have patients washtheir hands".
The number of toilets and taps inhospitals were limited compared to large number of patients they had totake care of, said Mai, adding that h ospitals also did not have enoughnurses to ensure that patients' nutrition needs are taken care ofduring their treatment.-VNA
