MULTI-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT

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Vietnam Business

2020-09-10

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT

2020-09-10

Time: Thursday, January 21^st, 2021

Location: 12th Floor, 15th Floor Building, 217 Hong Bang Street, Ward 11, District 5

Attendance:

Hoang Trong Hung – Vice Dean of Faculty of Odonto – Stomatology UMP
Trinh Hoang Kim Tu – Researcher, Head of the Allergy – Immunology working group, Center of Molecular Biomedicine UMP
Pham Dieu Thu – Lecturer, Dept. of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy UMP
Dr. Shu-Fen Chuang – Chair and Professor, School of Dentistry and Institute of Oral Medicine, NCKU; Director, Division of Operative Dentistry Dept. of Stomatology, NCKU Hospital
Chi-Chang Shieh – Institute of Clinical Medicine
Ching-Wei Lin – Dept. of Pediatrics
Shu-Wei Tsai – Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Ngo Thi Minh Hien – Director of NCKU OH in Vietnam

NCKU Overseas Hub in Vietnam hosted the “Multi-disciplinary research in healthcare management” webinar on January 21th 2021 to introduce amazing research’s result and increase the connection between NCKU and UMP as well as towards building international and interdisciplinary research groups to solve the real-world regional and global challenges.

Firstly, Dr. Hien introduced the purpose of the webinar, attendees from HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy and National Cheng Kung University. Then the project leaders presented their presentations.

The Webinar group photo

From above left: Grand Funding Project teams and NCKU OH, Prof. Shu-Fen Chuang, Prof. Chi-Chang Shieh;

From bottom left: Prof. Shu-Wei Tsai, Dr. Hoang Trong Hung, Prof. Ching-Wei Lin

The first speaker is Dr. Hung. His project is “Development and Evaluation of Effectiveness of oral health promotion model for pregnant women” focus on Social Oral Health Survey of oral hygiene practices, self-perceived oral problems, oral health-related awareness and knowledge regarding periodontitis and adverse pregnancy outcomes among pregnant women in Vietnam and Survey of the oral health status (periodontal status, caries status, oral hygiene status) and periodontal disease risk factors among Vietnamese pregnant women in Maternity Hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City. The project’s purpose dependent on the current situation in Vietnam that means periodontal disease, along with tooth decay, is one of the most common oral diseases worldwide and Vietnam is no exception, with 90% of adults suffering from the disease. Periodontal disease is posing a huge challenge for dentists in protecting patients’ oral health. The relationship between periodontal disease and pregnancy as well as preterm birth and low birth weight has been studied over years with a number of proposed mechanisms. Many studies suggested that periodontitis could be a risk factor for preterm birth and low birth weight. Pregnancy does not cause gingivitis but may worsen existing gingivitis. In advanced countries, oral health care, especially for periodontal disease in pregnancy is being increasingly concerned. However, in Vietnam, dental health care for pregnant women has not been given adequate attention, there is no specific model of oral health promotion for pregnant women. Awareness and knowledge of pregnant women about oral health are quite poor. The first step in an oral health promotion is to provide enough information so that the person can be aware of their current health status. In addition, most women are unaware of the relationship between periodontal disease and premature labor and lack of information on oral hygiene care for themselves and their babies. The question is how to create an effective oral health promotion model for pregnant women in Vietnam to improve their oral health habits, knowledge and attitudes as well as to make them recognize the relationship between their oral diseases and their child’s health during pregnant in the era of 4.0. The objectives of the research are to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of oral health promotion model for pregnant women.

Then Prof. Chuang gave a question about Dr. Hung’s presentation that is this smart phone app a feedback like it can show the individual’s condition or patient input their personal data which means that this app will allow pregnant woman can find the answer or promotion video to gain some knowledge about dental care. Dr. Hung answered Prof. Chuang’s questions that this app would combine the information about dental in 3 parts of pregnancy; bides that this app would collaborate with the hospital the send the mommy and the child’s health information to the phone after they come back home. Prof. Chuang said that Taiwan’s government concerned about pregnant women so this idea really useful and it could be used in Taiwan. Then they discussed about the future cooperation ability between two Faculties.

Prof. Chuang and Dr. Hung discussed about the oral health promotion model for pregnant woman via smartphone application

The next part is the presentation of Dr. Tu which the topic is “Seafood allergy in Vietnam”. The main issues are allergy is being recognized as a public health problem, with an increasing prevalence of allergic diseases worldwide. Multiple phenotypes have been described, for instance: asthma, food allergy, drug hypersensitivity, atopic dermatitis, urticaria, and anaphylaxis, etc. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can facilitate patients’ prognosis and quality of life. The research aim to build up a working group specializing in allergy and immunology, with the collaboration between allergists, from hospitals, and scientists, from university, to actively conduct studies covering the allergic and immunologic diseases in Vietnamese patients. Among the unmet needs, food allergy (FA) is selected as a priority target due to its popularity and severity. FA occurs in both children and adults and is one of the most prevalent allergic diseases causing anaphylaxis. The mechanisms of FA are complicated and consist of three pathways: (1) IgE-mediated, (2) cellular mediated, and (3) mixed IgE/cellular mediated. IgE-mediated food allergy can lead to multiple symptoms in patients, ranging from mild to severe symptoms, especially anaphylaxis, which might lead to death. The “gold standard” to diagnose food allergy was a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge. However, the challenge may cause severe reactions or anaphylaxis to patients. Treatment of FA mainly includes patients’ education, allergen avoidance, symptoms relief, and desensitization.

Prof. Shieh and Prof. Lin were impression with this the result and research methodology in Dr. Tu’s research and they really hope the cooperation opportunity in the future.

Prof. Shied and Prof. Lin were attracted by Dr. Tu’s presentation in Seafood allergy in Vietnam

The final presentation is belonged to Dr. Thu which the topic’s title is “Building mobile application assessing sleep quality, screening for obstructive sleep apnea”. The content combines some following ideas: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an important chronic sleep disorder due to its effects on the health of patients and society. The disease can cause significant physiological disorders, along with manifestations such as loud snoring, sleep apnea, excessive daytime drowsiness and reduced cognitive performance . The disease has been reported to be common among Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asians. Currently, the most important test to diagnose OSA is polysomnography (PSG) with the result as apnea hypopnea index (AHI) to rank the severity of the disease. However, this is a time consuming and costly test. In addition, requiring modern and expensive equipments, clinical experts, making PSG uncommon in health facilities, mostly concentrated in core hospitals and clinics in major cities in Vietnam, leading to hard access for patients. Therefore, the development of a simple, accessible initial screening tool becomes imperative to help patients identify OSA early, also assist clinicians in indicating PSG test as well. Building a mobile application based on Android platform with a database of characteristic information and self-assessment questionnaires to measure various aspects of sleep disorders such as sleep quality, insomnia and daytime sleepiness, as well as helping to screen OSA, using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and STOP-BANG questionnaire. These questionnaires had been translated into Vietnamese and validated.

After Dr. Thu’s representation; Prof. Tsai asked her that what the questionnaire is suitable in Vietnam then Dr. Thu answered that her team do many researches to make sure that all the questionnaires are fit and stable for all people answer and access. In addition, she knew that maybe just only using questionnaire is not evident enough to conclude OSA but on nowadays, smart watch with the function as measuring heart rate, SpO2 and combine with questionnaires would result in accuracy outcome. Another question from Dr. Tsai is the different about the percentage of OSA between men and women, then Dr. Thu said that OSA figures of men was high as twice as women and almost women complained the sleep quality so that in this research they would evaluate sleep quality first then the proportion of OSA.