Medical personnel prepare a sample for transport by pneumatic technology. — VNA/VNS Photo Lê Xuân

ĐÒNG NAI — The Thống Nhất General Hospital in Đồng Nai Province has put into use a pneumatic sample transportation system for testing.

The method offers various advantages, including quick transfer of test samples, shorter patient wait times, a lessened workload for healthcare professionals, and more time for patient care.

The Thống Nhất General Hospital's pneumatic sample transportation system has been used since March 2022, allowing the testing department to send and receive test results to clinics, diagnostic imaging departments, and inpatient wards.

When a sample needs to be transferred, medical professionals only need to insert the specimen into the microcontroller, which can carry out commands precisely and immediately.

The operations centre, which can track the transportation process and easily resolve any possible difficulties, oversees the entire system.

Trần Thị Minh Khuê, a technician at the Thống Nhất General Hospital's Microbiology Department, claims that the compressed air sample transfer system can move samples at breakneck rates, taking just five seconds to get samples to the necessary departments.

As a result, there is less stress on the medical staff, patients wait less time, and workers are more productive.

"In the past, transporting samples manually required a lengthy process," said Khuê. "Medical personnel had to travel to several floors after taking each sample to bring it to the testing facility, then return to get the results and provide them to patients."

"This process took about 10-15 minutes each time, and waiting times for test results would be longer," Khuê added. "Now, with just a push of a button, the test samples and results can be delivered to the required address in just five seconds. This saves a lot of time and personnel."

The compressed air transport system not only saves time and personnel for the hospital but also helps patients receive test results without having to wait too long.

Lê Thị Riêng of Tân Phú District said that in the past, every time she went for a check-up at the hospital, she had to wait nearly two hours for the test results after blood samples were taken.

Now, the waiting time has been halved thanks to this new technology.

According to Nguyễn Sĩ Tuấn, head of the Microbiology Department, Thống Nhất General Hospital is the first public hospital in Đồng Nai to implement a transportation system using compressed air, creating many benefits for patients and healthcare workers.

Implementing the sample transportation system using compressed air helps streamline the personnel transporting the samples, avoid contamination, and minimises the effects of humidity on the specimens, producing more accurate test results.

With the closed pipeline system, the specimens are transported to the Testing Department, and the results are sent back to the departments on the same pipeline in a two-way method.

This system prioritises the transportation of samples from the Emergency Department. When the Emergency Department presses the sample transport button, all other departments pause, ensuring that patients receive timely and convenient emergency care.

Phạm Văn Dũng, director of Thống Nhất General Hospital, said that after the testing sample transportation system was put into operation, it proved to be very effective.

Although the system has only been operational for over a month, it has helped reduce the workload of healthcare workers, and everyone is very satisfied with it.

The testing and sample transportation time is very fast, ensuring professional service requirements.

The compressed air sample transportation system has only been implemented in the 10-story building with 23 departments. In the future, the hospital will install a sample transportation system in all departments and rooms to meet increasing patient examination and treatment demands. — VNS