Innovation in medical examination and treatment style: There is still "one bad apple spoiling the barrel"

(Baonghean) - After 1 year of implementing Decision 2151 of the Ministry of Health on "Innovation in style and service attitude of medical staff, aiming at patient satisfaction", up to now, medical examination and treatment facilities have had clear changes, gradually creating trust from the people. However, there are still cases of "one bad apple spoiling the barrel".

People are upset

In March 2016, Quynh Luu General Hospital was visited by relatives three times to request clarification of responsibility for negligence in medical examination and treatment. At its peak, on March 24, more than 100 people came to the hospital to request clarification of the lack of care of doctors and nurses leading to the death of child T. After the incident, Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, Director of Quynh Luu General Hospital admitted: "Child T's death was partly due to the lack of responsibility of doctors and nurses because they did not monitor and anticipate the progression of the disease, leading to unfortunate consequences."

There was also the case of “removing the nail from the right hand and operating on the wrong hand” at Hospital 115. The incident would not have been condemnable if the surgeon had admitted his mistake and apologized to the patient. However, the doctor made an excuse: “During the surgery, the nail was deeply embedded inside, so it had to be chiseled out to remove it, resulting in a cavity in the bone, and surgery had to be performed on the left hand to take the bone to replace it in the right hand.” This excuse has created doubts about the conscience, responsibility, and professional qualifications of the doctors.

The care team staff of Vinh City General Hospital guide, patient counseling

Causing indignation among the patient's family, there was also the incident where a doctor at Dien Ky Commune Health Station (Dien Chau) refused to treat a patient on duty on May 22, 2016... And not only were there reactions at level 2 and 3 hospitals, but also at some level 1 hospitals such as Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, the people did not agree.

The Ministry of Health's hotline recorded Mr. Van Duc's reflection: 1 department has about 50 children, twice a day, each child is injected with the same type of antibiotic. When asked, the doctor said that just injecting one type of antibiotic for 7 days will cure the disease... On social networks, some people also reflected on the negligence in examination and treatment; the billing staff of this hospital did not understand the system, so they answered irresponsibly...

Most of the causes leading to these incidents are due to the attitude and behavior skills of medical staff. According to the report on the results of 1 year of implementing Decision 2151/QD-BYT of Nghe An Department of Health, 63 medical staff were criticized and disciplined. Doctor Bui Dinh Long - Director of the Department of Health said: The quality of care, examination and treatment in some hospitals is still weak; There is still public opinion about a number of medical staff having bad attitudes, low service spirit, unsympathetic words, and even showing negative behavior while caring for, examining, treating and transferring patients to other hospitals.

Building trust

According to Dr. Bui Dinh Long: The above sad cases and blameworthy individuals are just "a rotten apple spoiling the barrel". After 1 year of implementing innovation, Nghe An Health sector has achieved many positive results. The system of directing and supervising the implementation of "innovation in style" in medical examination and treatment from the province down to the units has been established and operates regularly and continuously. Most medical staff have been self-aware of the need for innovation. People's reflections and complaints about negativity, lack of responsibility, and attitude have decreased significantly.

And more happily, the people's comments and feedback have been accepted, accepted and revised by medical examination and treatment facilities. At Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, immediately after receiving comments about the poor attitude of doctors and payment staff, the hospital leaders immediately took it seriously, contacted the patient's family to explain, and fully performed their responsibilities for the patient's benefit.

Implement benefits on electronic machine to measure patient satisfaction at Southwest General Hospital.

Implementing Decision 2151/QD-BYT, in Nghe An, many typical examples with good practices have appeared, typically Vinh City General Hospital. The hospital has focused on reforming administrative procedures to be streamlined, attentive service style, maximizing stages of the testing process, shortening the time to return results; expanding the examination area with full modern equipment, air conditioning, automatic drinking water filtration system, free wifi. This change has been highly appreciated. Similarly, the Endocrinology Hospital, Nghi Loc General Hospital, Southwest Regional General Hospital... have also continuously invested in equipment, improved qualifications, changed attitudes from reception, service to surveying patient satisfaction through suggestion boxes and patient council meetings.

The implementation of innovation has been creating positive public opinion in the community about the service attitude of officials and employees in the health sector; people are gradually more satisfied when examining and treating patients. Doctor Bui Dinh Long affirmed: In the coming time, the Nghe An health sector will continue to effectively implement the key innovation contents and tasks, along with strengthening inspection and supervision to evaluate the implementation results in localities and units. Hopefully, people will boldly participate in contributing to the sector positive and negative information about "Innovation in style" in medical examination and treatment.

Thanh Son