The third and final workshop for Viet Nam’s 2017-18 Applied Management Training Course (AMTC) was held in Ha Noi on 23-25 January 2018.Sixteen health staff attended the course which began in August 2017. Fourteen (87.5%) successfully completed the course.
During the workshop, participants gave updates on their process improvement projects as oral presentations and presented posters outlining their health intervention plans for a priority health problem in their respective coverage areas. After the presentations, additional modules on time management, effective supervision and conflict resolution were taught to the participants.
The process improvement projects were as follows:
Can Tho Preventive Medicine Center team – decreasing the time for release of water quality test results
Da Nang Preventive Medicine Center team –improving dengue outbreak detection and response
Hai Phong Preventive Medicine Center team –increasing DPT4 vaccination coverage
Institute of Public Health (IPH) team – improving the conduct of scientific club meetings
Ho Chi Minh City Preventive Medicine Center and Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City team – improving the completeness of monthly notifiable disease reports
National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology team –improving feedback of laboratory test results for outbreak investigations
Pasteur Institute Nha Trang team –increasing the number of qualified applicants from their institute for advanced field epidemiology training
Tay Nguyen Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (TIHE) team –improving the timeliness and completeness of reports for the Emergency Operations Center
The projects of the Can Tho and Hai Phong Preventive Medicine Centers were judged to be the best quality improvement projects.
Among the health problems for which intervention plans were created by the teams are the following:
Pertussis – Can Tho team
Dengue Fever – Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City teams
Diphtheria – TIHE and Pasteur Institute Nha Trang
Human Streptococcus suis cases – Hai Phong team
Foodborne diseases – IPH
The plans presented by the Can Tho team to reduce the number of pertussis cases and by the Pasteur Institute of Nha Trang to reduce the number of deaths due to diphtheria in Quang Nam province were judged to be the best health intervention plans.
During the closing ceremonies on 25 January, awards were given to the teams with the best projects. Dr. Tan, Vice Director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine (GDPM), and Dr. Quizon, Executive Director of SAFETYNET, awarded the prizes as well as certificates of attendance and completion to the participants. Both of them encouraged the teams to follow through with implementation of their projects and use the skills they acquired during the course in their day-to-day work. They also thanked the local faculty, Phung Duc Nhat, Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, Nguyen Phuong Thuy, Do Mai Hoa, Nguyen Minh Hoang and Pham Thi Thuy Linh for facilitating the workshops and acting as field advisors. Dr. Huynh Minh Truc, Director of the Can Tho Preventive Medicine Center, spoke on behalf of the participants. He expressed his appreciation to GDPM and SAFETYNET for giving them the opportunity to undergo applied management training. The course was helpful not only for them to do better in their respective jobs but in their personal lives as well.
A second cohort of frontline health staff from provincial preventive medicine centers and centers for disease control will be trained this year.