Strengthening healthcare capacities in Lviv, Ukraine
Under the auspices of the Czech Development Agency, the Czech Health Technology Institute is implementing a project to strengthen healthcare capacities in Ukraine.
In cooperation with the partner hospital in Lviv, the Lviv Territorial Medical Union, the project seeks to comprehensively address the issue of antibiotic overuse. Apart from the transformation of the healthcare system, which was accompanied by the overuse of antibiotics in the Czech Republic in the 1990s, this phenomenon is compounded by the state of war in Ukraine. In situations of medicine shortage and lack of specialized care for patients at the frontline, antibiotics are applied in an unsystematic manner. As a result, hospitals (not only) in eastern Ukraine face resistance to the antibiotics used.
„We embarked on a concerted review of processes that include proper sample collection, faster and more accurate recognition of patient disease, and deployment of the right drugs. One of the key elements is also strengthening communication between the doctor and the microbiology laboratory,“ says Jiří Plecitý, project leader from the Czech Health Technology Institute (CHTI).
Combined training ensures transfer of Czech know-how
Experts from the General University Hospital in Prague assist their colleagues in Lviv with implementing recommended guidelines. Together they are compiling pharmacological protocols and procedures for antibiotic therapy management. Practical training awaited the trainees directly at the clinical site and the specialized ATB center in Prague, where they learned about the established processes and best practices under the supervision of Václava Adámková, MD.
„In the first phase, we needed to understand how the current healthcare system works. Ukraine is facing a massive influx of patients, the pressures to make the system more efficient are enormous and hospitals are developing very dynamically,“ adds Jiří Plecitý. To implement some of the changes, it was necessary firstly to equip the microbiology laboratory, whose capacity was not sufficient for the number of samples being processed. The project financed new equipment to help process samples more quickly.
This will also help in the Burns Unit, where until now doctors have typically waited 7 days or more before they could start adequate treatment based on laboratory results. During the training, Prof. Lipový from the University Hospital Brno focused mainly on the correct collection of the patient's sample and on the identification of infections that burn patients face. During the trainees' visit to the Brno workplace, they also discussed infection prevention and control and hospital hygiene.
The third area in which CHTI assisted the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Centre was the specialized care of patients with brain and spinal cord injuries. The trainees verified their knowledge theoretically and practically and gained insight into the therapeutic techniques used at the Clinic of Rehabilitation Medicine of the VFN and the Spinal Unit at Motol University Hospital, under the guidance of Yvona Angerová, MD. and Jiří Kříž, MD. The Ukrainian colleagues also visited the Bohdaneč Spa and saw procedures for follow-up rehabilitation care, which are unavailable to patients in Ukraine.
Training centers serve GPs in daily practice
Thanks to the overall support of the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, leading intensive care physicians from Ukraine attended the prestigious Prague Ventilation Masterclass, which focused on improving techniques in artificial pulmonary ventilation.
The project also successfully handed over a primary care training center with a GP ambulance. The training center is one of the first steps to build training capacity at the Lviv Territorial Medical Union, where doctors from all over western Ukraine are prospective to be trained. Primary care extends not only to proper patient history and antibiotic treatment but also, for example, to instructions for proper care of burns and scars. That is why CHTI is also focusing on this area of healthcare in other projects and delivering small practitioner clinics to the regions of eastern Ukraine.
