Instrument sterilizer
Department of Infection Control
INTRODUCTION
The Department of Infection Control of Tra Vinh Provincial General Hospital was established under Decision No. 1146/SYT-TCCB dated 15 November 2010 of the Tra Vinh Provincial Department of Health, originally named the Department of Infection Prevention.
On 18 October 2011, under Decision No. 400/SYT-TCCB, the department was officially renamed the Department of Infection Control, marking a major transformation toward standardizing infection control in a professional, consistent and modern way.
Over more than 15 years of development, the Department of Infection Control has continually grown in scale, refined its organization and improved its professional quality.
From early days marked by shortages of facilities and staff, the department has become a key unit playing a central role in the hospital's quality assurance and patient safety system.
The department currently has 05 main teams:
1. Surveillance Team: responsible for monitoring hospital-acquired infections, hand hygiene, medical waste management and environmental disinfection.
2. Instruments Team: responsible for receiving, cleaning, packaging, sterilizing and storing medical instruments.
3. Sterilization Team: sterilizes instruments, linens and medical supplies according to standard procedures.
4. Laundry Team: handles the collection, sorting, washing, drying and supply of clean linens for the entire hospital.
5. Environment Team: monitors the hospital environment, handles waste and coordinates measures to prevent cross-infection.
The department's staff are united, responsible and dedicated, and actively learn and keep up with new knowledge in infection control
PROFESSIONAL STRENGTHS
The department's key tasks include:
Developing and issuing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for disinfection, sterilization, management of instruments and linens, and medical waste treatment.
Surveillance of hospital-acquired infections: monitoring, analyzing and reporting infection cases, particularly surgical site infections, hospital-acquired pneumonia and bloodstream infections.
Organizing and monitoring hand hygiene throughout the hospital, ensuring 100% of departments comply with regulations.
Medical waste management: sorting, collecting, transporting and treating waste safely and according to procedure, without polluting the environment.
Disinfection and sterilization of medical instruments and linens: carried out at the central area, ensuring complete sterility for reuse.
Education and training: regularly organizing training courses and practical guidance on infection control for medical staff, trainees, and students of medical universities and colleges.
Interdepartmental coordination: using microbiology test results to detect pathogens early and promptly implement effective interventions and preventive measures.
TRAINING & RESEARCH
Activities include:
- Participating in infection control training for medical students and interested trainees.
- Continuing medical education (CME) for medical staff.
- Participating in scientific conferences within and outside the province.
- Scientific papers – Research projects:
- Master Thach Thanh Duoc – Head of Department:
1. 2020 study: “Nurses' implementation of the preoperative patient preparation procedure at the Department of General Surgery, Tra Vinh General Hospital, and associated factors.”
2. 2024 study: “Outcomes of lateral mass screw fixation with spinal cord decompression for multilevel degenerative cervical spinal stenosis.”
3. 2025 study: “Current status and factors affecting nurses' implementation of instrument disinfection and sterilization procedures in the surgical departments of Tra Vinh Provincial General Hospital.”
4. 2026 study: “Caregiver burden and associated factors among caregivers of cancer patients at Tra Vinh General Hospital.”
5. Scientific supervision of students: topics supervised for student internships
6. Published in the Journal of Scientific Research and Development: Nurses' compliance with the preoperative patient preparation procedure at the Department of General Surgery, Tra Vinh General Hospital
7. Published in the Vietnam Medical Journal: Description of troponin i hs concentration and metabolic syndrome components in outpatients
8. Published in the Journal of Community Health and Medicine: Isolation characteristics and antimicrobial resistance of common bacterial pathogens in icu and non-icu departments at tra vinh general hospital in 2025.
- Master Cu Bach Mi – Deputy Head of Department:
1. Principal investigator: Job satisfaction and associated factors among clinical nurses at Tra Vinh Provincial General Hospital in 2015.
2. Principal investigator: Compliance with routine handwashing among medical staff at Tra Vinh Provincial Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital in 2016.
3. Provincial-level initiative: “Current status and factors affecting continuing education of health sector staff in Tra Vinh Province in 2017”.
4. Principal investigator: “Work motivation and associated factors among doctors at public medical facilities at district level and above in Tra Vinh Province in 2018”.
5. Principal investigator: “The need to merge the Hoa Minh Commune Health Station into the Hoa Minh Regional General Clinic under the Chau Thanh District Health Center”.
6. Provincial-level initiative: “Current status of commissioned doctor training at Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy for Tra Vinh Province in 2009-2018 and health workforce development directions to 2025”.
7. Principal investigator: “Results of the Part A assessment under the Vietnam Hospital Quality Assessment Criteria at public hospitals in Tra Vinh Province in 2016 - 2020 and associated factors”.
8. Principal investigator: Knowledge and practice of type 2 diabetes prevention among Khmer people aged 40 and over in Tra Vinh Province in 2023.
9. Project secretary: Assessment of pre-hospital emergency care at hospitals under the Tra Vinh Provincial Department of Health in 2024.
EQUIPMENT
No. | Equipment Name | Purpose |
1 | High-capacity industrial washing machines (Primer, Primus, Girbau) | Washing linens |
2 | High-capacity industrial dryers (Primer, Alliance) | Drying linens |
3 | 250-liter washer-disinfector | Washing and disinfecting instruments |
4 | 500-liter steam sterilizer 760-liter steam sterilizer | Steam sterilization of instruments |
5 | Frane Etuves instrument drying cabinet | Drying instruments |
6 | 173-liter plasma sterilizer | Sterilizing instruments |
7 | 170-liter low-temperature sterilizer | Sterilizing instruments |
8 | Sterile drying cabinet. | Sterile drying of instruments |
Plasma sterilizer
Low-temperature sterilizer
Pouch sealing machine
Sterilization pouch cutter
STAFF
Total staff: 36, matched to job positions.
Master Thach Thanh Duoc | Head of Department |
Master Cu Bach Mi | Deputy Head of Department |
Bachelor Nguyen Thi Nguyet | Head Nurse |
Staff structure: 02 Masters – Head and Deputy Head of Department, 01 Bachelor of Nursing, 02 Bachelors of Public Health, 01 Nurse Aide, 06 Nurses, 02 Pharmacists, 01 Environmental Engineer, 01 Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science, 02 Bachelors of Biology and 18 other staff.
