2014 Mission to Kien Giang General Hospital

Impact Health Vietnam returned to Rach Gia City for a 2-week mission to Kien Giang General Hospital (KGGH). KGGH is a top provincial medical center that treats an average of 2000 outpatients a day. IHVN brought 30 volunteers on this mission, including doctors, nurses, device specialists, an echocardiography technician, a perfusionist, technical, and logistic support personnel, interpreters, photographers, and videographers.

Interventional cardiology: The mission team brought a large number of donated supplies and medications for the treatment of patients in need. Through the generous donation of Medtronic Vietnam, IHVN was able to provide 45 drug eluting stents to qualified. IHVN Cath Lab and CCU nurses conducted mini lectures, bedside training and demonstrations for the local staff. They also provided direct patient support and education during recovery and their discharge from the hospital.

The CCU of Cath Lab department is a new ten-bed unit. Our volunteers from the 2013 mission assisted in the planning for this unit and it was gratifying to see how it had been developed.

Open heart surgeries: A total of 9 open heart surgeries were performed during our two-week mission at KGGH. A model for a team approach of collaboration among departments during the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative phases of care for each patient, was implemented during this mission. Several mini lectures and case discussions for the surgical team were delivered throughout the course the mission. In addition, a set of surgical instruments, valued at $26,000 US was donated to the cardiovascular department by Scanlan company. Medtronic Vietnam, at the request of Impact Health Vietnam, arranged for ten mechanical heart valves to be available at no charge to qualified heart patients in need during our mission. Many important drugs which are either not available or cost prohibitive in Vietnam were also donated to the hospital by IHVN, for use in the OR and ICU.

Education and Training: Education is a primary focus of all IHVN missions. Our team delivered a diverse program of hands-on, bedside training for KGGH CCU nursing staff, as well as formal and informal lectures on topics related to heart diseases.

The IHVN team conducted classes on CPR and ACLS, basic rhythm recognition, 12 Lead EKG interpretation, heart and lung sound assessment, patient assessment, and preventing patient acquired infections. Hundreds of nurses, medical students and doctors participated. IHVN critical care nurses also offered assistance to local staff in providing support and patient education during their postoperative recovery. A team of IHVN educators also prepared and delivered a successful all-day symposium for 37 doctors from district hospitals in the province and local staff focusing on preventive cardiology, coronary artery diseases and EKG interpretation.

IHVN missions would not be possible without the outstanding services of our interpreters and the selfless and dedicated support of our non-medical team members, photographers, and videographers.

2014 Mission Team