Evaluation of Family Medicine Specialty Training in Vietnam
Evaluation of Family Medicine Specialty Training in Vietnam using the Primary Care Assessment Tool and Focus Groups
Duration: 2007-2008
Location: Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Thai Nguyen
Overview: Faculty from the Collaborative surveyed Vietnamese hospitals using the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT – designed by Barbara Starfield of Johns Hopkins University) to assess primary care in Vietnam. Vietnamese and American researchers embarked on the study in order to describe the scope and availability of primary care services as identified by patients and doctors, to understand patient and provider perceptions of primary care in Vietnam, and to identify financial, geographic, and psycho-social barriers that impeded physicians from providing primary health care in Vietnam. The study used quantitative surveys and focus groups involving both patients and doctors.
Accomplishments:
- Successful implementation of PCAT in Vietnam, to be considered for future use
- Surveyed 108 health care providers
- Surveyed 100 patients
- Assessed survey results and made recommendations to improve family medicine and primary care delivery, such as the need for recognition of family medicine as a medical specialty and the increased equipment needs of Vietnam’s Commune Health Centers
