SNU JW LEE Center for Global Medicine visited the university hospital of Kathmandu University Dhulikel.
From September 2 to 6, the SNU JW LEE Center for Global Medicine visited the university hospital of Kathmandu University Dhulikel to inspect the current status of hospital infection control and to hold a meeting with the staff afterwards to further develop programs dedicated to infection management.
In March, two nurses from the Kathmandu University Dhulikel’s infection control team were invited to receive a month-long infection control training. Upon their return, they have applied the knowledge to their hospital in Nepal and have worked toward improving the hospital’s existing measures.
CHOI Eunha, professor at the SNU College of Nursing said, “The trainees returned to Nepal and expanded their infection control measures to include doctors and took concrete steps to carry out the work. They also improved the hand sanitation level of the medical staff by using the exact protocol that they were taught at the SNU hospital program. Since then, the hospital’s hand sanitation level has gone up from 27% to 52% in four months. The intensive care unit for newborn babies has almost reached 100%.”
Professor Cho proposed various programs and protocols for the Dhulikel hospital including new space arrangements focused on creating safe and efficient interaction between the patients and medical staff, new systems for distinguishing used and unused medical supplies, and a procedure for reporting antibiotic resistance.
“Because the equipment and fund were limited to the infection control management, we focused on the improvement of treatment systems and procedures,” Professor Cho explained. She added, “We have noticed the desire and effort at the hospital to improve infection control, and we will continue to consult and support these efforts in the future.”
Written by Ho Jung Annie Hwang, SNU English Editor, annieohan@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Professor Travis Smith, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, tlsmith@snu.ac.kr