Promoting the role of nursing in caring for and protecting people's health

The backbone of the health care system

According to the 2020 Health Statistics Yearbook, the Ministry of Health announced that nurses account for 39% of the entire health workforce. If we count health workers who work directly with patients, nurses account for nearly 70%, and nurses are present everywhere in the health system. The services provided by nurses and midwives are the most numerous, most frequent, and most continuous.

Nursing care of newborns.

According to the Lao Cai Department of Health, the province currently has 34 medical examination and treatment units at the provincial and district levels and 152 medical facilities at the commune level. 100% of medical examination and treatment facilities in the province have established Nursing Councils. Provincial and district hospitals have established Nursing Departments and Nursing Teams, and appointed nursing positions in accordance with current regulations of the Ministry of Health.

The entire provincial health sector has nearly 1,800 nurses, accounting for more than 33% of the total workforce, of which nurses with college, university and postgraduate degrees account for 94%, the rest are intermediate level. The team of nurses, technicians and midwives have been striving to improve their professional qualifications, skills as well as their spirit and attitude towards patient care.

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Health Pham Bich Van, nurses, technicians, and midwives play an important role in medical facilities. The nursing team has actively coordinated and supported doctors in treating patients, directly implementing medical orders, caring for and monitoring patients on a daily basis. The dedication, responsibility, and silent sacrifice of the nursing team, technicians, and midwives have been and are contributing significantly to the work of taking care of people's health, creating prestige for each medical facility.

Help and care for the sick

According to the Vietnam Nursing Association, in reality, nurses perform more than 100 tasks in a day because they are assigned many non-administrative tasks and take care of patients directly. Thus, the professional activities of nurses have a very wide scope, not limited to carrying out doctors' orders.

For the provincial health sector, to ensure good implementation of nursing professional activities, 100% of hospitals have established Nursing Councils and developed operating regulations, assigning specific tasks to members. Nursing Councils organize reviews, updates, supplements and promulgates nursing procedures, health education communication materials applicable at the unit, typically hospitals: Provincial General Hospital, Provincial Obstetrics and Pediatrics, Sa Pa Town General Hospital, Bat Xat District General Hospital...

In addition, hospitals in the province have organized the implementation of level I patient care in key departments (emergency resuscitation, intensive care, neonatal) and emergency rooms of clinical departments; organized departmental head nurse meetings, patient council meetings at department and hospital levels according to regulations (department level once a week, hospital level once a month).

The nursing team actively cooperates with the treating physician in patient care; complies with nursing technical procedures and regulations of the Ministry of Health; implements the code of conduct and practices communication with colleagues, patients and their families. In addition, helps patients use drugs safely, according to medical orders, according to technical procedures and ensuring sterility; provides enough essential supplies for patients coming for examination and inpatient treatment.

In particular, due to the nature of being in closest and frequent contact with patients, nurses have a role in promptly detecting and reporting health problems, as well as reflecting the needs and desires of patients to doctors or medical professional management departments. A 2024 survey at hospitals in the province showed that the satisfaction rate of inpatients was over 96%, outpatients was over 97% and medical staff was over 99%.

Head of Nursing Department, Provincial General Hospital Bui Thi Ngoc Hong said: Every month, the unit organizes a hospital-level patient council meeting to listen to the opinions and contributions of patients and their families during treatment at the hospital to further improve its activities, aiming to build a system of nurses and technicians who are professional in their expertise and have strong medical ethics.

Sharing about the value of services provided by nurses and midwives, according to the Vietnam Nursing Association, during their practice, each nurse has cared for tens of thousands of patients (estimated 80,000 patients) staying up thousands of nights (estimated 2,800 nights) for the health and lives of patients.

Creating an ideal working environment for nurses

According to regulations of the Ministry of Health, the scope of professional activities of nursing includes 1,251 techniques, of which 26 emergency techniques must be proficient, 94 techniques are authorized to be prescribed, and 317 techniques are prescribed by nurses and doctors.

The scope of professional activities of nurses according to the above regulations not only affirms the professional role and responsibility of nurses but also opens up opportunities for nurses to strive for career development. The role of nurses today is not only limited to the task of care but also directly coordinates treatment, creates an examination and treatment environment so that patients receive high-quality care and ensure safety. Therefore, investing in nursing is investing in the health of patients.

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Health Pham Bich Van, in the coming time, the health sector will continue to promote awareness of the role, position and recognition of the contributions of nurses in order to attract the quantity and quality of nursing training, while at the same time encouraging and motivating nurses at hospitals and medical facilities to promote their professional capacity in practice.

Proactively advise the province to have many innovations from recruitment policies, supplementing resources for the nursing team to perform well the functions and tasks of taking care of patients' health.

In addition, medical examination and treatment facilities are required to develop continuous training plans to enhance the professional capacity of nurses. At the same time, regulations on minimum nursing staff for patients according to specialties are required to ensure enough nurses to provide comprehensive patient care, on that basis, hospitals have plans to recruit nursing staff.

A nursing - midwifery professional activity organized by Lao Cai Department of Health in the first quarter of 2025.

Strengthening the management and monitoring system; applying information technology and new technologies in information management and patient care, helping to increase the working efficiency of nurses and improve the quality of nursing care. Focusing on cooperation with international organizations and partners to share professional and technical experiences in the field of nursing, thereby improving the quality and efficiency of nursing human resources in the province.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/phat-huy-vai-tro-cua-dieu-duong-trong-cham-soc-va-bao-ve-suc-khoe-nhan-dan-post401660.html