Recently, the Ministry of Health of Vietnam issued Decision 1125/QD-BYT on the guidelines for the care of COVID-19 patients in healthcare establishments.
Article table of contents
According to this Decision, the Ministry of Health of Vietnam guides the rules for infection prevention as follows:
(1) Apply standard precautions: all healthcare workers working in isolation areas shall wear sufficient PPE properly. This is the most important measure to protect healthcare workers from the disease.
(2) Take precautions against contact and droplet transmission in examination and care of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases.
(3) Take precautions against airborne transmission while performing aerosol generating procedures upon confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases.
(4) All patients and healthcare workers in isolated treatment areas shall practice respiratory hygiene.
(5) Properly control ventilation and environmental hygiene in patient rooms, isolation areas, etc.
(6) Minimize moving patients. Prioritize bedside techniques (X-ray, ultrasound, etc.); if the patient must be moved, notify the destination and ask the patient to wear a medical mask during the move; use separate and predetermined ways to minimize exposure for healthcare workers and other patients.
(7) Do not let the family of isolated patients take care of them, excluding newborns and young children; families of suspected or confirmed cases must strictly adopt preventive measures.
(8) Patient care equipment shall be used once for each patient. If this requirement cannot be ensured, sanitize, disinfect and sterilize the equipment before using it on another patient.
Specifically, the following preventive measures are taken:
Standard precautions are a set of basic precautions applied to all patients in healthcare establishments, regardless of their diagnosis, infection status and time of care, by treating all bodily fluids (excluding sweat) and excreta as potentially infectious. Standard precautions must be used in the care of all patients in healthcare establishments, regardless of their diagnosis and infection status.
Droplet precautions in Vietnam
Wear medical masks and goggles or face shields when in close contact with confirmed cases.
Contact precautions in Vietnam
- Wear clean gowns and shoe covers when visiting a patient’s room and remove them before exiting the anteroom. Do not let work clothing touch any environmental surface or other objects.
- Wear clean gloves while caring for patients, change gloves after coming into contact with feces, medical fluids, bodily fluids of patients, etc.
- Clean hands immediately using hand sanitizer.
Airborne precautions in Vietnam
- Wear gowns and respirator masks (e.g., N95).
- Use closed sputum suctioning equipment for patients on breathing support if sputum suctioning is indicated.
- Perform medical procedures in a single-occupancy room with a tightly shut door and safe ventilation. Negative pressure rooms are recommended.
- Ensure safe ventilation: natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation or mixed-mode ventilation may be used provided that the minimum ventilation rate is 12 ACH. Locate the exhaust system in a manner that allows air to be discharged close to the ground (10 ()15 cm above the ground) to empty areas and prevents contaminated air from recirculating.
Details on measures to prevent infection when taking care of people infected with Covid-19 can be found in Vietnam's Decision 1125/QD-BYT issued on February 8, 2021.
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- Decision 1125/QD-BYT of Vietnam
