"Digitalizing" primary health care

Dr. Pham Van Liem, Director of Phu Tan District Medical Center, said: “Phu Tan is located far from the provincial center, traffic conditions are not favorable, people have limited access to medical services. Along with that, the level of information technology (IT) application among the people is still quite low, more or less affecting the ability to provide and receive medical services through the digital system. Therefore, the District Medical Center has proactively deployed applications to help people have access and easier access to medical examination and treatment.”

Remote medical appointment scheduling “vnCare” is considered a management application, connecting people with healthcare, bringing practical benefits, contributing positively to the activities of caring for and protecting people's health. Realizing that utility, Phu Tan District Medical Center has established IT teams to support commune level (8 communes, 1 town) to install this application.

Patients making appointments in advance on the system helps the medical team easily monitor and avoid patient pressure.

“On the commune level, we instruct the focal points of the communes, which are commune health workers, hamlet health workers, union members, youth, and community digital transformation forces of the units... Then, we establish IT teams, assign direct tasks, assign targets and tasks to each member in charge of the area, and proceed to guide people to install and use the software. The plan is deployed synchronously from commune to hamlet, with monitoring, supervision, support, and help to remove difficulties when necessary,” added Dr. Pham Van Liem.

At the same time, the district also updates and standardizes people's information (citizen identification card/electronic identification) and synchronizes population data of VNPT -HMIS software (health management information system) so that each person has a personal electronic health record.

Accordingly, in just a short time of drastic implementation, up to now, the entire district has installed the vnCare application for 47,354 people, accounting for 47.72% of the population in the area, contributing to the criteria of the population rate having electronic medical records ≥ 50% in building the new rural area. In particular, 100% of doctors at regional medical stations/clinics and Phu Tan Medical Center have installed and proficiently used the functions of the vnCare software.

“The initial results of supporting and guiding people to install and access the new software are a great effort of the district. In the coming time, the district will continue to promote so that people can gradually get used to this new service. Thanks to the urgent direction at the grassroots level, the number of appointments on the vnCare application has increased sharply,” Dr. Liem said excitedly.

According to statistics from the District Health Center, in the first 7 months of 2023, the whole district had about 52,800 people coming for medical examination and treatment (the center received over 11,600 visits; the grassroots level over 41,000 visits), of which nearly 6,000 appointments were recorded at medical facilities; 35 cases booked for online consultation via vnCare.

Thanks to the installation and application of remote medical examination and treatment software, people in Phu Tan district can go to the District Medical Center for medical examination more quickly and easily, without having to wait long.

Having just registered for medical examination and treatment using the vnCare software a few days ago, Mr. Duong Thanh Hong, Rach Cheo hamlet, Rach Cheo commune, shared: “I have known this software for quite a long time and have registered to use it since the beginning of this year. My house is quite far from the District Health Center. When I register in advance, I can take the initiative in my time, come for examination immediately, and have priority in choosing the clinic, doctor, and specific examination time. On the system, I can also review the history of medical examination and treatment and prescriptions used. Because I registered in advance, the doctor does not put pressure on the number of patients. This service is very convenient.”

Dr. Pham Van Liem said: “The implementation of vnCare software at the grassroots health care level helps to greatly improve the reception of patients, reduce waiting time and create convenience for patients. The function of reviewing medical examination history, prescriptions, paraclinical procedures, performed tests... is also clearly stored and easy to search.”

With suitable support features and benefits that the software brings, Phu Tan Medical Center continues to develop a deployment plan, instruct people to use it and direct commune health stations to assign staff on duty, instruct people to install and use the software; continue to direct localities to review, standardize information, update citizen identification for missing people, update health records for people. At the same time, strengthen propaganda so that people form the habit of using software on smartphones to perform digital transactions; especially related to medical examination, treatment or remote consultation, health monitoring./.

Hong Nhung

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