Forum to share good practices and improve the effectiveness of social work activities in the health sector

Attending and chairing the workshop were: Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Hung - Deputy Director of the Department of Organization and Personnel, Ministry of Health; Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Tien Nam - Head of the Department of Social Work, University of Public Health; Dr. Nguyen Van Thuong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health;Dr. Nguyen Hong Truong - Party Secretary, Director of Vinh General Hospital.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the Board of Directors, leaders of departments, offices, and staff working in the Social Work sector of medical examination and treatment facilities across the country.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Dr. Nguyen Van Thuong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health emphasized: "In the health sector, the Social Work sector was established in 2011, the role of the sector is increasingly affirmed and valued, contributing to solving the urgent needs of patients and their families, supporting the improvement of the quality of medical examination and treatment services as well as increasing people's satisfaction when using medical services.

Wishing to create a forum for those working in the field of Social Work at medical examination and treatment facilities nationwide to have the opportunity to exchange, share, learn from each other, update knowledge, good practices, orientation, thereby improving the effectiveness of social work activities of medical examination and treatment facilities nationwide, Nghe An Department of Health in collaboration with Vinh General Hospital organized the Scientific Workshop "Improving the effectiveness of social work activities in medical examination and treatment facilities".

At the workshop, delegates listened to topics from major hospitals that are successfully implementing social work activities such as: "Effective implementation of communication and marketing activities at hospitals" - Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital, "Improving the quality of Social Work in medical examination and treatment facilities towards professionalism, creativity and integration" - Vinh General Hospital; "Charity work in hospitals in the era of technology 4.0 - management perspective, challenges and solutions" - National Children's Hospital; "Applying and spreading health insurance policies to improve the effectiveness of helping clients in difficult circumstances" - Cho Ray Hospital; "The art of customer care in hospitals" - Phu Tho Provincial General Hospital; "Developing brands on digital platforms" - Vinh International Hospital; "Models of Social Work in hospitals around the world and lessons learned for Vietnam" - Vinh University, Department of Health; “Solutions to improve communication effectiveness at Nghe An Traditional Medicine Hospital” - Nghe An Traditional Medicine Hospital …

After listening to the valuable and rich topics presented at the workshop, the delegates discussed and shared their knowledge about social work; thereby contributing to improving the quality and efficiency of operations at medical units.

Speaking at the Workshop,Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Hung - Deputy Director of Department of Organization and Personnel, Ministry of HealthEmphasized that in recent times, the human resources doing social work have increased to 6,000 people, including 1,605 social workers in hospitals and 20,000 medical staff in the social work network, at medical facilities along with a strong organizational system for social work at hospitals; thanks to that, the social work of the health sector has made remarkable progress compared to other professions.

The Deputy Director also highly appreciated the initiative and scientific creativity of Nghe An Department of Health and Vinh General Hospital in organizing a practical and meaningful forum to share, update and foster knowledge and skills; thereby, social work in the health sector develops more professionally and effectively.

In order to improve the effectiveness of social work activities, in the coming time, the Ministry of Health will focus on a number of solutions: Amending, supplementing, replacing, and issuing new contents of legal documents; drafting a Decree on Social Work, according to which, social workers from now until 2030 are required to have a practicing certificate; Strengthening and improving the quality of training to improve the quality of human resources; the functions and tasks of social work are expanded throughout the health, population, prevention, and pharmaceutical sectors.

The Ministry will issue a document requesting authorities at all levels to increase investment in funding to develop plans for job positions and working facilities for social work facilities; especially to increase experience sharing and training to improve knowledge and skills for the social work network at the units./.