Doctor of special patients

Special doctors

"When did you get sick? - Doctor, since 1996", "Do you still hear whispering voices - Yes, no more"... The questions of Specialist I Nguyen Ky Quang - Head of the Men's Department, Khanh Hoa Psychiatric Hospital were answered clearly and distinctly by Mr. HXV (51 years old, Nam Ninh Hoa commune). If you looked at him normally, it would be difficult for anyone to know that Mr. V. was a schizophrenic patient who had been treated for many years at the hospital.

Medical staff instructing patients to play chess.

Medical staff guide patients to play chess.

Having been treated at Khanh Hoa Psychiatric Hospital since its inception, Mr. V. has become very familiar with the doctors and nurses here because he often goes in and out of the hospital. At first, Mr. V. often had hallucinations, imagining hearing voices coming from his arm, then had many unusual actions, following the words from that imagination. Thanks to his compliance with treatment, Mr. V.'s condition has improved a lot, but he still has to take medication and go to the hospital regularly. "This is one of our special patients, Mr. V. has been sick since he was young, and has been treated for many years. When Mr. V.'s parents passed away, his brothers and sisters are now taking care of him. Fortunately, the patient's condition has improved compared to before, so his family is somewhat more at ease" - Dr. Nguyen Ky Quang shared.

The doctor assigns patient care tasks to staff and nurses.

Taking us to see from the Examination Department to the Men's Department, the Service Department..., Dr. Quang said that here, in addition to the outpatients who mostly have mild illnesses, there are also many inpatients. There are cases where the disease has been treated for 10, 20 years. Each patient here has a different situation. Some have schizophrenia, often paranoid that someone is harming them, being poisoned; hearing hallucinations, voices in their ears, the most dangerous case is when those voices urge the patient to endanger others or themselves. Some people have depression, some have bipolar disorder...

In the multi-purpose playground, laughter and music are mixed together... Patients are allowed to come here to walk, relax, and exercise. Pointing to a male patient sitting in the multi-purpose playground, Dr. Quang said that patient THC (43 years old, Hoa Thang ward) is also a patient with special circumstances. Mr. C. has been treated at the hospital since its inception. Previously, the patient had his father to take care of him, but since Mr. C.'s father passed away, the task of taking care of him has fallen to his brothers in the family. Suffering from schizophrenia, when he has an agitated episode, Mr. C. smashes things, sometimes even... the people around him.

At the Department of Men, we were surprised to meet Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh - a young female doctor born in 1997 who has just started working at the hospital for 7 months and really likes and wants to stick with this job. After graduating and working for 3 years at a military hospital in Dong Nai province, Dr. Anh sought information and applied to work at Khanh Hoa Psychiatric Hospital. In an environment with many more characteristics than a regular general hospital, the female doctor did not feel shy but still loved what she was doing. "I myself realize that I have a passion for taking care of the health of the sick people here. We doctors not only take care of the mental health of each patient, but also have to understand the psychology of the patient's family and family circumstances to have appropriate treatment directions. Every time a patient makes progress compared to before, even just a little bit, we are very happy" - Dr. Anh confided.

Need "steel spirit"

In the conversation with the doctors and nurses here, we heard many funny and sad stories of those who are trying to take care of and treat patients every day. The most common are the beatings and beatings that do not fall from the sky but from the patients themselves. Being beaten while examining, visiting, or giving medicine... is a very normal thing for the doctors, nurses, and security guards here. "At first, those who are not used to it will feel a lot of pressure, but once they do it, they will know how to prevent and overcome it" - Doctor Quang shared. Having been with the hospital since its inception, Doctor Quang has experienced almost all the "joys, anger, love, and hate" of the profession. As for young doctors, working in this special environment is not easy.

Doctor Nguyen Ky Quang examines patient H.X.V.

Doctor Nguyen Ky Quang examines HXV patient

Working at the Department of Occupational Therapy, Khanh Hoa Psychiatric Hospital for nearly 15 years, Bachelor Nguyen Quang Minh Hien remembers most the time he was guiding patients to participate in activities at the multi-purpose yard when a patient had an attack, pulled out an iron bar to tie the badminton net and chased and beat everyone in the yard. To avoid other patients from being hurt, Bachelor Hien had to do everything to attract the patient's attention towards himself, creating conditions for doctors and nurses to take other patients out. Luckily, Bachelor Hien was not injured at that time. "When I saw that everyone was safe, I breathed a sigh of relief. After that, we were trained more thoroughly by doctors on how to recognize patients showing signs of an attack to observe and have a way to prevent it when organizing common activities. In particular, we must always remember to always walk behind the patient to observe, do not walk in front because we will not be able to handle it in time when the patient hits us from behind" - Bachelor Hien said.

Bachelor Nguyen Trong Vu - Department of Occupational Therapy remembers clearly the times when he followed the hospital's team of doctors to the community. At that time, the whole team "shamelessly" persuaded the family members of people with mental illness to take them to the hospital for treatment. He said: Seeing patients locked up and chained at home being brought to the hospital for treatment by their families, we found our work very meaningful. There were patients who previously only knew how to scream or shout, but after a period of treatment, they learned to communicate and exchange. Some people, when they were stable after treatment, even came to the department to say hello before going home. The progress of the patients is the motivation that helps us overcome difficulties and become more committed to the profession.

Special support mechanisms are needed.

Currently, the staff of Khanh Hoa Psychiatric Hospital has 124 people, including 15 doctors. On average, each day, the hospital examines and treats about 150 - 170 inpatients and about 50 - 70 outpatients. With the above staff, the hospital is currently enough to operate, however, there is still a shortage of 5 doctors.

According to Specialist Doctor I Nguyen Anh Chuong - Deputy Director in charge of Khanh Hoa Psychiatric Hospital, due to its unique characteristics, medical staff working at the hospital have to face great work pressure, a large number of patients; doctors often have to face dangerous, stressful situations and sometimes have no time to rest. Mentally ill patients can have unpredictable, unstable behaviors, and can even escape or endanger themselves and others. This requires medical staff to have high professional skills, patience and the ability to respond flexibly in emergency situations. Many mental patients come from families with difficult circumstances, have no relatives to care for them, or are abandoned, leading to complete dependence on hospital care. In addition, the remuneration for medical staff working in the psychiatric field is not commensurate with the difficulties and pressures they face, leading to a lack of motivation and difficulty in attracting and retaining talent.

Patients participate in group activities, exercise, and play at the multi-purpose playground.

In the past two years, along with the province's mechanisms and policies, the hospital had to build its own attraction mechanism from the hospital's fund to attract and retain 4 more doctors. Thanks to that, this is the time when the hospital has the largest number of doctors ever. Before 2023, the number of doctors in the hospital was only a maximum of 12 - 13 doctors.

“In the past, the Provincial People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee have had mechanisms and policies to attract doctors to work in Khanh Hoa province. However, due to the inappropriate mechanism, the one-time incentive when working between the general hospital and the psychiatric hospital is only about 10 million VND, so attracting doctors to work at the hospital is difficult. From 2010 to 2023, the hospital only recruited 1 doctor to work, but after 2 years he quit his job. By the end of 2024, the hospital had 3 doctors under contract, of which 1 doctor worked for more than 4 months and then quit. Therefore, the hospital really needs a policy to retain doctors like the policy for doctors at current medical stations. At the same time, the Provincial People's Council should increase the attraction fee and have a monthly support policy for doctors working in specialized hospitals that are difficult to attract human resources such as: Tuberculosis, lung, mental... so that hospitals can retain doctors to continue working. "Doctor Chuong suggested.

The silent work of doctors and nurses caring for mental patients requires a love for the profession and a "spirit of steel". Hopefully, there will be more attention, investment and support from management levels, social organizations, as well as sympathy and sharing from the community so that health care for mental patients can be increasingly improved.

THAO LY - VINH THANH

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/phong-su/202507/bac-si-cua-nhung-benh-nhan-dac-biet-d1a5311/