The Ministry of Health has proposed a system to identify, report and categorise adverse events to prevent untoward incidents at medical facilities.

Health examination at a hospital.

An adverse event is any undesirable experience associated with the use of a medical product in a patient, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

According to the draft circular proposed by the ministry, the system will identify the types of incidents to determine their level of seriousness.

The ministry has encouraged medical facilities to set up the incident reporting system to identify causes and propose solutions to medical incidents.

It said the system would be secured and would not be operated for punishment purposes, adding that reporting adverse medical events is the responsibility of the entire medical staff.

It also said medical workers who identify adverse events should handle such incidents to ensure the safety of patients.

The medical facilities should report the incident which killed one person and may lead to the death of more people to the facility’s incident management unit for assistance.

Each medical facility has been asked to set up a patient safety department under the quality management council to investigate and analyse an incident within 24 hours and report it to the health ministry’s national patient safety board or local health department.

The department has to set up a standard management process to handle the incident. The process will be supervised by the health ministry or provincial health department.

The patient safety department is tasked with proposing recommendations to reduce the risks of adverse medical events and holding training sessions to improve medical staff’s capacity to handle adverse events.

The health ministry has assigned the Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department to receive adverse event reports.

Incident reporting systems at the ministry and provincial/city levels have been also proposed.

The draft circular is available on the health ministry’s portal for public feedback.

Viet Nam has witnessed a series of adverse events in recent years.

Last year, nine patients died in one of the most tragic adverse events in the country. They were undergoing treatment at Hoa Binh General Hospital in northern Hoa Binh Province for kidney failure.

The patients suffered anaphylactic shock, including breathing problems, sudden fall in blood pressure, stomach ache and vomiting, while undergoing kidney dialysis at the kidney dialysis division of the hospital.

According to authorised agencies, the deaths were caused by improperly treated water used for the dialysis as well as equipment that did not meet safety regulations. — VNS