Improving antibiotic prescribing for community-acquired pneumonia in a provincial hospital in Northern Vietnam.

OBJECTIVES: To test the effectiveness of a quality improvement programme to promote adherence to national quality standards (QS) for patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), exploring the factors that hindered improvements in clinical practice. METHODS: An improvement bundle aligned to the QS was deployed using plan-do-study-act methodology in a 600 bed hospital in northern Vietnam from July 2018 to April 2019. Proposed care improvements included CURB65 score guided hospitalization, timely diagnosis and inpatient antibiotic treatment review to limit the spectrum and duration of IV antibiotic use. Interviews with medical staff were conducted to better understand the barriers for QS implementation. RESULTS: The study found that improvements were made in CURB65 score documentation and radiology results available within 4 h (P < 0.05). There were no significant changes in the other elements of the QS studied. We documented institutional barriers relating to the health reimbursement mechanism and staff cultural barriers relating to acceptance and belief as significant impediments to implementation of the standards. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions led to some process changes, but these were not utilized by clinicians to improve patient management. Institutional and behavioural barriers documented may inhibit wider national uptake of the QS. National system changes with longer term support and investment to address local behavioural barriers are likely to be crucial for future improvements in the management of CAP, and potentially other hospitalized conditions, in Vietnam.

Misclassification of blood pressure of Vietnamese adults when only a single measurement is used.

A single clinic measurement of blood pressure (BP) may be common in low- and middle-income countries because of limited medical resources. This study aimed to examine the potential misclassification error when only one BP measurement is used. Participants (n = 14,706, 53.5% females) aged 25-64 years were selected by multistage stratified cluster sampling from eight provinces, each representing one of the eight geographical regions of Vietnam. Measurements were made using the World Health Organization STEPS protocols. Data were analyzed using complex survey methods. For systolic BP, 62.7% had a higher first reading whereas 30.0% had a lower first reading, and 27.3% had a reduction of at least 5 mmHg whereas 9.6% had an increase of at least 5 mmHg. Irrespective of direction of change, increased variability in BP was associated with greater age, urban living, greater body size and fatness, reduced physical activity levels, elevated glucose, and raised total cholesterol. These measurement variations would lead to substantial misclassification in diagnosis of hypertension based on a single reading because almost 20% of subjects would receive a different diagnosis based on the mean of two readings.

SLIPTA e-Tool improves laboratory audit process in Vietnam and Cambodia.

BACKGROUND: The Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) checklist is used worldwide to drive quality improvement in laboratories in developing countries and to assess the effectiveness of interventions such as the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) programme. However, the paper-based format of the checklist makes administration cumbersome and limits timely analysis and communication of results. DEVELOPMENT OF E-TOOL: In early 2012, the SLMTA team in Vietnam developed an electronic SLIPTA checklist tool. The e-Tool was pilot tested in Vietnam in mid-2012 and revised. It was used during SLMTA implementation in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2012 and 2013 and further revised based on auditors' feedback about usability. OUTCOMES: The SLIPTA e-Tool enabled rapid turn-around of audit results, reduced workload and language barriers and facilitated analysis of national results. Benefits of the e-Tool will be magnified with in-country scale-up of laboratory quality improvement efforts and potential expansion to other countries.

Dimethyl sulfoxide and sodium bicarbonate in the treatment of refractory cancer pain.

Pain is a major concern of cancer patients and a significant problem for therapy. Pain can become a predominant symptom in advanced cancers. In this open-label clinical study, the authors have treated 26 cancer patients who have been declared as terminal without the option of conventional treatment. These patients suffered from high levels of pain that was poorly managed by all available interventional approaches recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. The results indicate that intravenous infusion of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and sodium bicarbonate (SB) solution can be a viable, effective, and safe treatment for refractory pain in cancer patients. These patients had pain due to the disease progression and complication of chemotherapy and radiation. Moreover, the preliminary clinical outcome of 96-day follow-up suggests that the application of DMSO and SB solution intravenously could lead to better quality of life for patients with nontreatable terminal cancers. The data of this clinical observation indicates that further research and application of the DMSO and SB combination may help the development of an effective, safe, and inexpensive therapy to manage cancer pain.