On the 7^th June 2019, 5S Congress recorded the positive impacts made in 14 departments within FV Hospital after successfully implementing 5S practices. Six of the departments achieved the highest score, these included the Surgical Ward (88 points), Paediatrics Department (87 points), Medical Ward 4^th Floor (84 points), OPD (78 points), Imaging Department (72 points) and Front Office Department (71 points). All the departments which reached over 70 points received a certificate awarded by AIMNEXT – FV’s support training and human resources development partner. In addition, the Surgery Department, Paediatrics Department and OPD were also honoured for their considerable development in the first stage of 5S application.

Lecturer Tran Huu Anh Tuan from AIMNEXT Centre

The 5S Congress programme marks one year of implementation of 5S at FV under the instruction of expert lecturer, Tran Huu Anh Tuan from AIMNEXT Centre. The occasion was also a great opportunity for all departments in the hospital to summarize their achievements over the year. This encompassed ideas and improvements in the working environment which contribute to raising the quality and standards of safety for patients.

Mr Nguyen Ngoc Oanh Vu presented 5S on the 3rd floor

Members of the 5S Congress include: Ms Do Thi Hong Trang – General Manager of AIMNEXT Centre, and representatives from FV Hospital’s Board of Directors; Ms Pham Thi Thanh Mai – Chief Operating Officer, Ms Lee Poh Lian – Nursing Director, Ms Phan Dieu Ha – Human Resources Director, and Mr Juan Lucas Rosas – Quality Management Director, along with members of the 5S Committee and representatives from all the departments in the hospital.

With “Finding the standard department” behind 5S Congress’s approach, there was excitement and enthusiasm in the air with the presentations from representatives of the 14 departments of the hospital. These comprise of the Front Office; General, Thoracic & Vascular Surgery; Paediatrics Department; Medical Department; the Offices on the 3rd Floor; ICT Department; Facility Department; Hospitality Department; General Store, Pharmacy Department; Imaging Department; OPD; and Building Maintenance Department.

Presentation from a representative of the ICT department

Overall, all the departments participate in 5S activities actively, and follow the steps; Seiri (Screening), Seiton (Sorting), Seiso (Cleanse), Seiketsu (Caring), and Shitsuke (Ready). Thanks to this mentality within the workplace, all the unnecessary appliances have slowly been removed, and appliances that are being used are being organized in a scientific way, following the 3 rules; locating, identification, and quantification. Additionally, appliances are being labelled by images and colours with the aim towards achieving the 4 ‘easy’ goals; i.e. easy to see, easy to take, easy to use, and easy to return. Moreover, every position has a sanitary activity checklist and annual maintenance. With these activities, a lot of ideas were pointed out in the development stage of 5S in helping the working environment to be clean, organized, and convenient for employees. Such measures look to avoid redundant manipulation and these manipulations becoming faster as well as avoiding and reducing the mistakes in working procedure. Having the 5S mindset within every employee contributes to forming a positive and creative habit, which in turn improves productivity.

Board of Directors awarded the departments which won the 5S presentation competition

Whilst major achievements were made, the departments also faced challenges when implementing 5S. The most common was lacking the material to operate. However, when faced with such difficulties, the creativity of the departments to tackle the problems were raised and, with the support of Mr Nguyen Quoc Viet – Building Maintenance Manager, such ideas were implemented to produce lasting results.

Board of Directors thank AIMNEXT for their support over the years

Summary of the 5S score board after one year of application in FV

After one year of implementing 5S, FV Hospital with 44 points in August, 2018, and 58 points in February, 2019, has now increased to 65 points in June, 2019. Although not yet quite reaching its goal of 70 points, FV Hospital has seen many positive changes in the last year. Lecturer Tran Huu Anh Tuan, who has helped instruct and monitor 5S activities at FV commented: “I’m very pleased to see the departments which interacts with patients, such as the Paediatrics, Medical, Surgical, and Outpatient Department all have high score in 5S. I can say that, the efforts of the departments have been effective, contributing to safety for the patients. I hope that in the future, the 5S committee will have more activities for the departments so that every departments will achieve over 70 points”. In addition, the departments which have the best presentations were awarded by Ms Pham Thi Thanh Mai – Chief Operating Officer, these were the Surgical, Medical, and Front Office Department. The Board of Directors always encourage departments to share their experience and the success when following 5S.

At the end of the 5S Congress programme, FV Hospital thanked Lecturer Tran Huu Anh Tuan with the flowers for sharing his experience and knowledge about 5S, so that the hospital can implement positive changes over the years. It is the motivation behind the 5S committee to continue the path to build the standard of 5S, helping FV “beautiful inside out”, as well as improve the quality of services in an efficient way and raise the standards of safety for its patients.