Towards the end of 2019, FV established the Telemedicine Centre including HealthCare at Home services to help ease patient density at FV Hospital’s departments, and then leveraged the service to meet healthcare needs of Covid-19 patients.

FV Hospital brings INTERNATIONAL-STANDARD medical services to your home 

Caring for patients at home – the new era of medical care

During the prolonged pandemic, when hospitals were overloaded and travel limited, FV Hospital designed its telemedicine services and home care services to serve Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms, as well as patients with chronic diseases who need regular monitoring. More than 600 patients have used this service and recovered safely.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, many diverse patient groups have continued to choose to receive remote medical examination and healthcare at home.

Doctors consult remotely for patients during the Covid-19 pandemic

Mr N.T.N, 67 years old, was a patient with diabetes who came to FV Hospital in June 2022 with a large abscess in his leg. The infection had taken hold a week earlier and his leg had turned purple. Doctors diagnosed the patient with sepsis and recommended him to be hospitalised immediately so that he could be treated with intravenous antibiotics. However, like most elderly patients, Mr N. preferred to be treated at home and refused to go to the hospital. Every day, the nurses of the Telemedicine Centre and Health Care at Home Services of FV Hospital visited his house to change his bandages and administer medicine until he recovered.

Medical staff and patients at home

Ms Pham Thi Thanh Mai, COO of FV Hospital, shared: “Telemedicine is bringing a new era of care to patients with many benefits. Patients can be cared for at home, in a comfortable, familiar environment, and so they typically make a quicker recovery. At the same time, this service also contributes to freeing more hospital space for serious cases and helps to reduce the burden on public health resources.”

Ensuring international standards for patient safety

According to Ms Nguyen Thi Huong, Manager of the Telemedicine Centre and Health Care at Home Services at FV Hospital, patient safety is what concerns doctors most when offering telemedicine. Before consultation, it is necessary to study the case. When booking a teleconsultation appointment, all patients receive a free telephone consultation with a well-trained consultant before confirming their appointment with a doctor.

Doctors will connect with patients via video calls using applications such as Zalo, Skype, and Viber. All a patient needs is a smartphone or tablet with a reliable internet connection. When a patient needs to have their vitals measured, have samples taken for testing, or needs wound care or physical therapy, FV’s nursing team and technicians will support the patient via a home visit.

Before going to the patient’s house, in addition to bringing the necessary medical orders, medicine and medical equipment, nurses must always contact the patient and family members in advance, and need to know if the patient is able to walk. They also need to know their daily routine and, most importantly, that there will be at least one family member there with the patient during the visit.

A recap of medical staff working with patients at home

Medical staff consulting patients via phone

Ms Nguyen Thi Hanh, nurse team leader of FV Health Care at Home Service, said: “Caring for patients at home requires more effort from the nursing team. Some incidents are small inconveniences, like struggling to find the address, but we also experience more difficult cases when we are resisted by patients. In one instance, a nurse came to take care of an elderly woman over 90 years old who was confused and did not want her urinary catheter changed, and there was a minor altercation. At such times, nurses need to draw on their passion for their job, to treat the patient as their loved one and stay calm to continue working effectively.”

After overcoming the difficulties of delivering medical care at home, healthcare workers are always overjoyed when they see patients recovered and feeling comfortable. When nurses take care of pregnant women or new mothers at home, they offer high-quality international-standard services and are happy to help the patient with anything they might need, including changing bandages after giving birth or bathing the baby.

Contact FV’s hotline 09 62 62 78 26 or see more at https://www.fvhospital.com/fv-hospital-anywhere-fv-healthcare-at-home-service/ for advice on Telemedicine and Healthcare at Home services.