Developing a model of mental health care for the elderly

(Baonghean) - With a tradition of over 42 years, a team of doctors with good technical expertise, dedicated to their work, and gradually upgraded equipment, Nghe An Mental Hospital is a trusted address for mental health care in the region, especially mental health for the elderly.

Established on July 11, 1974, the predecessor was the Department of Neurology of the Provincial General Hospital, with an initial scale of 30 beds. After 2 moves (from Thanh Chuong to Nghi Loc and to Vinh City), 2 mergers (with G5 Hospital of the Ministry of Transport and the Center for Forensic Psychiatric Assessment).

Nghe An Mental Hospital is equipped with machinery and technology to meet the increasing needs of patients. Photo: Dinh Nguyet

Up to now, Nghe An Mental Hospital has become a grade II specialized hospital with a scale of 260 beds, a structure of 18 departments and rooms suitable for the unit's professional work. The hospital's facilities have been invested, upgraded, and supplemented with a number of testing machines, diagnostic imaging, exploration, and rehabilitation, ensuring good service for emergency, examination, treatment, and patient care.

In order to meet the increasing demand for medical examination and treatment of elderly mental patients, implementing Circular No. 35/2011/TT-BYT, on September 1, 2012, the hospital established a 30-bed pediatric and geriatric psychiatry department. The department is fully equipped with essential facilities to receive and treat patients with mental disorders and epilepsy over 60 years old and under 16 years old. Due to the psychological, physiological and pathological characteristics of the elderly with diverse and complex symptoms, the diagnosis and treatment of these patients is difficult.

The hospital has established a department of child and geriatric psychiatry to improve the quality of examination, treatment, and mental health care for elderly patients. Photo: Dinh Nguyet

With the support of some upper-level hospitals under the Ministry of Health's Project 1816 on technology transfer, professional training, and the efforts to creatively apply scientific knowledge, skillfully combine traditional and modern medical methods of the team of doctors and nurses, the hospital has so far effectively treated nearly 4,000 elderly patients with mental disorders. In addition, the implementation of administrative reform, innovation in service style and attitude, and considering patients as "special customers" of doctors and nurses have left many good impressions on patients and their families.

The development goal of Nghe An Mental Hospital is to become a satellite hospital of the Provincial Health Sector Development Project - to become a nuclear technology center in the North Central region. Photo: Dinh Nguyet.

Currently, the average life expectancy of people is increasing, the number of elderly diseases is increasing, including mental health problems. Discussing the direction of work to meet this practical need, Mr. Phan Kim Thin - Director of Nghe An Mental Hospital said: The hospital continues to focus on investing in facilities, technical equipment and deploying more advanced technical services, combined with traditional medicine methods to continuously improve the quality of treatment and patient care. In particular, special attention is paid to the elderly with a model of a separate department that can combine the treatment of a number of other geriatric diseases. Expanding the scope of service both inside and outside the province and neighboring Laos.

This is also one of the contents to develop Nghe An Mental Hospital into a satellite hospital of the Project to develop the provincial health sector into a nuclear technical center in the North Central region; contributing to building Nghe An into an industrial province, a major center of the region in the coming time.

Dinh Nguyet