Nursing care for patients. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam, without increasing investment in nursing training, by 2030, Vietnam's health sector may face a shortage of about 40.000-50.000 nursing workers.
In order to reach the rate of qualified nurses, to better meet the medical care needs of the people, the health sector needs to add 2-3 times more nurses than the current number of nurses.
The above information was given at the seminar "Nursing profession: No worries about unemployment, AI cannot be replaced," organized by Dan Tri electronic newspaper in collaboration with VinUni University on May 30, in Hanoi.
Salary and benefits are not commensurate
At the seminar, Associate Professor Luong Ngoc Khue - Vice Chairman of the National Medical Council, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment (Ministry of Health) said that now there are more than 1.400 public hospitals, more than 300 non-public hospitals, all have a system of chief nurses and nurses in charge of management and care. The nursing workforce accounts for 70% of the medical staff. However, there is still a shortage of nursing staff at present.
“In terms of quality, most hospitals use intermediate nurses, while the need to improve quality, 50-70% must be nurses with college and university degrees. We don't have professors or associate professors in nursing, neighboring countries like Thailand already have a team of teachers teaching nursing and nursing practice," said Khue.
The director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment analyzed that the current attraction to the nursing industry is not there because of the hard work, but the salary and remuneration regime is not commensurate with the labor force, the working conditions have been improved but have not met the needs... Many places still do not properly appreciate the role of nurses. That shows that the picture still has many dark areas in nursing work.
Associate Professor Luong Ngoc Khue - Vice Chairman of the National Medical Council, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment (Ministry of Health). (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)
“For nursing graduates, the starting salary is only 2,8 million VND, in the near future, the salary will increase to 3 million. With such a salary is very difficult. Currently, the hospital assignment mechanism is autonomous, in state hospitals, the salary of nurses is 2,5 times the highest, the best hospital is only 6-7 million. Second, now that private healthcare is developing, it also pays quite high, maybe double this salary, so there is a shift between public and private. This is a challenge that requires hospitals to innovate and innovate from hospital fees to component costs, to calculate prices in which, including care services, must also be properly calculated to be able to pay nurses better,” Mr. Khue emphasized.
Referring to the current nursing training, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Long - Director of Nursing Program, Institute of Health Sciences, VinUni University said that VinUni is training 3 courses of bachelor's degree students in nursing. The 4-year training program is both according to the national qualification framework as well as according to the common practice of the world when training at university level. During the course, students have many internship opportunities at the hospital. Currently, all nursing graduates at VinUni will be admitted to Vinmec International General Hospital upon graduation.
Dr. Nguyen Hoang Long - Director of Nursing Program, Institute of Health Sciences, VinUni University. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)
Dr. Nguyen Hoang Long Emphasizing that, in the process of training students of course 1, although they are only in their 3rd year, the school invited experts to follow the Fullbright Scholars Program in the US for a month to train students together with exam strategies and content for the certification exam in the US. The purpose is that when students want to participate in one of the most difficult certification competitions in the world today, they have been prepared in advance and if they pass that exam, they can conquer more difficult or equally difficult exams in countries around the world.
In particular, if you study nursing at VinUni University, you will also be able to study sub-specialties in business and administration, science and technology, and information management, in addition to professional training.
Lots of job opportunities
Dr. Tran Quang Huy - Vice President of the Vietnam Nursing Association said that Vietnam is currently facing an aging population, we have passed the golden population period. As a rule, the older the age, the greater the need for health care. Therefore, the demand for nursing workforce is very large.
“We see more job opportunities in nursing. When the population is aging, it is no longer only traditional care such as caring for acute diseases in internal, external and obstetric hospitals, but also new care jobs such as how to care for the elderly, how to care at home, how to take care of recovery ...
Dr. Tran Quang Huy - Vice President of Vietnam Nursing Association. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)
This opens up many new care specialties. This is also an opportunity for nurses to develop their careers as well as to advance, and it is also an opportunity for schools to expand training in these specialties to meet the needs of society,” said Mr. Tran Quang Huy.
Associate Professor Luong Ngoc Khue emphasized that the nursing profession is very important in the Vietnamese health system in general and the medical examination and treatment system in particular. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to investing in human training, improving capacity and qualifications, especially paying attention to policies and regimes for nurses.
“In modern life, AI certainly cannot replace nursing, AI cannot replace sleep, care, questioning, kindness, tenderness, gentleness, nor planning to change hands, brains, gestures, and words of encouragement to take care of patients. Care techniques such as feeding, from helping the patient to sleep well, to keeping the patient from coughing, to making them comfortable in daily activities in the hospital… no one can replace the nurse,” said Associate Professor Luong Ngoc Khue.
Experts participated in the discussion. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)
In the roadmap, the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, passed by the National Assembly on January 9, 1, effective on January 2023, 1, regulates the responsibilities of nurses. The Ministry of Health has also proposed many groups of solutions. In particular, the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment and hospitals are developing Circular 1 regulating nursing work, stating the very important roles of nurses, from planning, care to treatment, patient guidance, prevention...
According to the Director of the Medical Examination and Treatment Administration, by 2028, nursing bachelors and nursing professions will pass the National Medical Council exam to have a certain qualification. At that time, nurses with high qualifications, enter the hospital environment, practice medical examination and treatment facilities, update the knowledge of ASEAN countries and the world, on par with other countries' professional capacity. They can take care, treat, practice in the country and also go to other countries to practice.
