Highlights of smoke-free medical facilities

Not only is it the last line in treating respiratory diseases, the Central Lung Hospital is also known as a "bright spot" in the work of preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco in the health sector.

No smoking in the workplace

Many years ago, the leadership of the Central Lung Hospital determined: "Building a smoke-free hospital is not only about complying with the law, but also about being responsible for the health of patients and medical staff." From this strategic direction, the hospital has proactively issued a series of specific documents and regulations to put tobacco harm prevention work into order, effectively and sustainably.

No smoking signs are posted in hospital departments.

Under the direct direction of the Board of Directors, all departments and offices have signed a commitment to strictly implement the regulation of "no smoking in the hospital", including the smoke-free criteria in internal regulations, competition regulations, and annual quality assessment. Heads of departments and offices are directly responsible to the Director if smoking occurs in the workplace or treatment area. This approach has created clear constraints and at the same time promoted the exemplary role of the leadership team, cadres, and party members.

Currently, 100% of “No Smoking” signs are properly placed, corridors, public areas, and patient rooms are airy and free of cigarette smoke – creating a clean, civilized hospital environment.

Quit smoking – the mission of protecting public health

Not stopping at "smoking ban", the Central Lung Hospital also focuses on implementing counseling and support activities to quit smoking as part of its mission to protect and restore community health.

In 2024, the Central Lung Hospital issued a decision approving a list of 15 medical staff participating in smoking cessation counseling, mainly doctors and technicians from the Department of Exploration and Rehabilitation. Counselors are well-trained, have a firm grasp of skills in assessing addiction levels, creating monitoring records, providing personalized counseling, and helping patients determine a suitable smoking cessation roadmap.

At the same time, the Hospital has also built a wide network of collaborators in all departments, rooms and centers. The collaborators are both the "eyes and ears" of the Steering Committee and a "bridge" close to the patients, with the task of propagating, reminding, guiding and referring people who want to quit smoking to the specialized counseling room.

The “three-tier” model: Steering Committee – Consultant – Collaborator has helped tobacco harm prevention work at the hospital operate synchronously, effectively and sustainably.

According to the 2024 summary report, the Central Lung Hospital has conducted 1,169 short consultations, 50 in-depth consultations and 6 cases of successful smoking cessation over 12 months.

Faced with the need to sustainably maintain a smoke-free environment, the Board of Directors of the Central Lung Hospital directed the entire system to shift its focus from "building a smoke-free hospital" to "building a smoke-free culture", which means not only being strict in regulations but also being persistent in awareness.

The hospital has reorganized the Steering Committee, increased specialized human resources, organized training courses to share consulting experiences, so that each medical staff member is not only a propagandist but also a model of healthy living.

Specific targets are clearly set, such as consulting at least 1,500 patients each year, creating profiles for over 100 cases in need of smoking cessation, and increasing the success rate of quitting smoking to 10-15%.

Pioneering in preventing the harmful effects of tobacco to protect a green, clean, and beautiful environment for patients

In addition, internal communication work has been strongly innovated with short clips, billboards, posters, internal radio videos , electronic screens, etc., helping the message "No smoking - the choice of civilized people" become familiar.

Each medical staff is considered an "active propagandist", contributing to spreading a green, clean and safe medical environment.

The results achieved in implementing the "Smoke-free Hospital" model have contributed to improving the quality of medical examination and treatment, while building a civilized and professional working environment for all medical staff.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/diem-sang-co-so-y-te-khong-khoi-thuoc-la-i786901/