Many hospitals in Vietnam are transforming their IT services byupgrading to more expensive, smarter systems to improve their servicesand quality.
Stronger demand from consumers, who have become more aware about quality healthcare services, has prompted the trend.
More sophisticated IT applications are important, hospitalrepresentatives have said, because of the shortage of human resourcesand infrastructure.
With more investment in IT, hospitals hope they can move from a volume-based business to a value-based one.
In addition, these investments allow doctors to focus more on people, not paperwork.
IT in Vietnam in recent years has been used to develop e-hospitals,build and develop strong clinic data systems and manage financialmatters.
Sai Gon International Hospital, a majorhealthcare establishment in Ho Chi Minh City, is one of many hospitalsnationwide, like the Dong Nai International Hospital and the PsychiatryHospital in the city's District 8, that have invested a great deal indeveloping e-hospital systems.
Le Thanh Binh, headof the hospital's IT Department, told Viet Nam News that it began usingIT in 2009 and has invested more in advanced e-systems, with a total of 2billion VND (95,000 USD) this year.
Several monthsago, the hospital began to apply a new information management solution,including data warehouse IBM DB2 and business analytics IBM Cognos,which have helped the hospital to manage an increasing volume of datathat can be analysed to offer actionable insights.
"The initial time was so difficult because everything was new. Now,however, it has gone well. The information and code of every patientwill be sent immediately to every department and faculty right afterthey come to the check-in counter," he said.
"It has helped us save 70-80 percent of time that we spent when we did work manually."
FV Hospital's ICT Director Tran Phuong Dong also said that thanks toIT solutions, his hospital could now manage patients and avoid financiallosses much better.
"An integrated IT system that connects all information will help hospital do that," he said.
Experts from the IT sector believe that investments in IT would help lower risks.
"There will be no more inaccurate test results. Any inaccurateinformation related to patients and financial matters will be reportedsoon to managers so they can fix them immediately," said Nguyen ThanhBinh, CEO of BSM Software Corporation which has provided IT solutionsfor many hospitals in Vietnam.
Nguyen Phuc Dung,IBM's Client Technical Professional, said that both hospitals andpatients benefited from modern IT solutions.
"Hospitals can easily manage all data as well as treatment history oftheir patients. Meanwhile, the patient can easily find their owninformation even when they stay at home. Also, they can use these datawhen they move to another hospital," he said.
Profits that IT brings to hospitals can clearly be seen. However, notall of the hospitals can apply IT in the most effective way.
Their study showed that the application of IT in hospitals is stillwidespread and many hospitals have applied it but not in an effectivemanner, Dung said.
He explained that hospitals hadset up IT systems randomly in an uncoordinated way, and thus it wasdifficult for their staff and doctors to have a unified view.
To effectively apply IT solutions, it is necessary to have an integrated system to connect everything, he said.
He also added that to save costs, hospitals must find experiencedcompanies and work with local solution developers who could help themavoid risks and problems that other hospitals have faced.-VNA
Stronger demand from consumers, who have become more aware about quality healthcare services, has prompted the trend.
More sophisticated IT applications are important, hospitalrepresentatives have said, because of the shortage of human resourcesand infrastructure.
With more investment in IT, hospitals hope they can move from a volume-based business to a value-based one.
In addition, these investments allow doctors to focus more on people, not paperwork.
IT in Vietnam in recent years has been used to develop e-hospitals,build and develop strong clinic data systems and manage financialmatters.
Sai Gon International Hospital, a majorhealthcare establishment in Ho Chi Minh City, is one of many hospitalsnationwide, like the Dong Nai International Hospital and the PsychiatryHospital in the city's District 8, that have invested a great deal indeveloping e-hospital systems.
Le Thanh Binh, headof the hospital's IT Department, told Viet Nam News that it began usingIT in 2009 and has invested more in advanced e-systems, with a total of 2billion VND (95,000 USD) this year.
Several monthsago, the hospital began to apply a new information management solution,including data warehouse IBM DB2 and business analytics IBM Cognos,which have helped the hospital to manage an increasing volume of datathat can be analysed to offer actionable insights.
"The initial time was so difficult because everything was new. Now,however, it has gone well. The information and code of every patientwill be sent immediately to every department and faculty right afterthey come to the check-in counter," he said.
"It has helped us save 70-80 percent of time that we spent when we did work manually."
FV Hospital's ICT Director Tran Phuong Dong also said that thanks toIT solutions, his hospital could now manage patients and avoid financiallosses much better.
"An integrated IT system that connects all information will help hospital do that," he said.
Experts from the IT sector believe that investments in IT would help lower risks.
"There will be no more inaccurate test results. Any inaccurateinformation related to patients and financial matters will be reportedsoon to managers so they can fix them immediately," said Nguyen ThanhBinh, CEO of BSM Software Corporation which has provided IT solutionsfor many hospitals in Vietnam.
Nguyen Phuc Dung,IBM's Client Technical Professional, said that both hospitals andpatients benefited from modern IT solutions.
"Hospitals can easily manage all data as well as treatment history oftheir patients. Meanwhile, the patient can easily find their owninformation even when they stay at home. Also, they can use these datawhen they move to another hospital," he said.
Profits that IT brings to hospitals can clearly be seen. However, notall of the hospitals can apply IT in the most effective way.
Their study showed that the application of IT in hospitals is stillwidespread and many hospitals have applied it but not in an effectivemanner, Dung said.
He explained that hospitals hadset up IT systems randomly in an uncoordinated way, and thus it wasdifficult for their staff and doctors to have a unified view.
To effectively apply IT solutions, it is necessary to have an integrated system to connect everything, he said.
He also added that to save costs, hospitals must find experiencedcompanies and work with local solution developers who could help themavoid risks and problems that other hospitals have faced.-VNA
