In mid-December, the provincial General Hospital organized a working delegation to strengthen professional support for health stations of communes: Nà Bủng, Mường Toong, Pú Nhung, and Sín Chải, contributing to improving health capacity for the grassroots level.

Along with 108 officials and doctors of the provincial Health sector reinforced to the grassroots level, the working delegation of the provincial General Hospital consisting of 8 doctors with solid professional qualifications directly participated in medical examination, treatment, training, and technology transfer for the commune-level medical team.

Doctor Phạm Tiến Biên, Director of the provincial General Hospital, said that during the time of reinforcement to the grassroots, the unit’s team of doctors coordinated with health stations to receive and examine 631 turns of people, including 586 health insurance examinations. Common diseases were mainly respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal diseases... Having provincial-level doctors working directly at the station contributed to improving the quality of diagnosis and treatment, helping many cases be handled right at the grassroots, reducing the situation of unnecessary transfer to upper levels. Thereby, people accessed medical services more timely, conveniently, and safely, especially in difficult mountainous traffic conditions.

Doctor Nguyễn Thế Dũng, Head of the Intensive Care Department at the provincial General Hospital, was assigned to directly support Pú Nhung commune health station. Sharing about this process, he said: “In the period from December 15 - 25, the working delegation together with the health station collective deployed simultaneously many professional activities, focusing on medical examination, treatment, training, and technical transfer. In just a short time, Pú Nhung commune health station received and examined 150 turns of people. Common diseases were mainly respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal diseases, and hypertension. This shows that the role of the health station in managing common diseases and non-communicable diseases in the community is very clear.”

From the perspective of intensive care - emergency, doctor Nguyễn Thế Dũng believed that in highland areas like Pú Nhung, where the village is up to 17km from the commune center and traffic is difficult, timely handling right at the commune level has special importance. “Through this rotation, we realize that grassroots health is an extremely important shield. Our presence is not only to examine patients but to add confidence to commune-level brothers in handling ‘golden hour’ emergency situations. We worked with the brothers to remove professional difficulties, helping to significantly minimize severe complications for patients before hospital transfer,” doctor Nguyễn Thế Dũng shared.

Along with medical examination and treatment, training and technology transfer activities were deployed synchronously. The working delegation of the provincial General Hospital organized electrocardiogram (ECG) technique training for 8 commune-level medical staff, performing 68 ECG turns; general ultrasound training for 4 staff, deploying 202 ultrasound turns right at the health station. The technology transfer method was implemented in the direction of “hands-on instruction,” helping the team of nurses at the station step-by-step master professional processes, improve practical capacity, creating a sustainable foundation for long-term primary healthcare work.

Especially, initial emergency contents were trained closely to the local reality, such as: Diagnosis and treatment of anaphylactic shock according to Circular No.51/2017/TT-BYT, basic circulatory arrest emergency, polytrauma emergency, Gelsemium elegans poisoning, drowning, acute alcohol poisoning, burns... At the same time, diagnostic and treatment regimens for non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, gout, COPD, and bronchial asthma were also guided and deployed uniformly at the commune level.

Exchanging about the process of directly participating in professional support at the grassroots, Specialist Doctor Level II Trần Hải Phong, Head of the Emergency Department at the provincial General Hospital, said that the focus of the reinforcement period was to help the commune health station step-by-step master essential techniques that can be applied immediately in daily medical examination and treatment reality. “We focused on supporting the deployment of some basic paraclinical techniques such as general ultrasound, electrocardiogram, and at the same time guiding the handling of some initial emergency situations related to respiratory and circulation. Parallel to that is supporting the control and management of common chronic diseases in the community, such as diabetes and hypertension,” doctor Trần Hải Phong shared.

According to doctor Phong, the biggest difficulty at the commune level currently is still the human factor and working conditions. Many health stations lack in-depth professional human resources, while the management area is large, the terrain is complex, and the population is scattered, mainly ethnic minority people. Medical facilities and equipment at some stations have degraded, significantly affecting the deployment of new techniques.

“However, what is very worth noting is the learning spirit of grassroots medical staff. When guided properly, choosing techniques suitable for existing equipment conditions, the brothers can absorb and use them immediately. Basic respiratory and circulatory handling skills were practiced directly on patients, helping station staff be more confident in handling initial emergency situations,” doctor Phong emphasized.

It can be seen that the activity of reinforcing upper-level medical staff to support the commune level in difficult areas of the provincial General Hospital in particular, and the provincial Health sector in general, has shown clear effectiveness, especially the change in professional capacity and people’s trust in grassroots health. When the commune health station is empowered at the right time and in the right way, the primary healthcare frontline will truly be consolidated in terms of human resources, skills, and implementation organization methods.