The story of ‘three generations of family working in medicine’ and the pressure of the generation with their mother’s bad reputation

Her mother passed away when Khu Thi Khanh Dung was just 5 years old. Dung grew up with the only dream of becoming a doctor to protect her father’s health. At the end of her high school years, Khanh Dung refused to study abroad to enter the university she chose: Hanoi Medical University and soon found her most favorite field was Pediatrics and especially Pediatrics. born.

“In the late 70s, few students were interested in majoring in Neonatology, and attending this department was the most dreaded because of the hardships. There were nights when I was on duty and had to take turns squeezing the baby’s hand balloon all night long. But after more than 40 years, if I could choose again, I would still choose this field,” Dr. Dung began the story with VietNamNet.

Associate Professor, Dr. Khu Thi Khanh Dung is a senior expert in the field of Pediatrics and Neonatology, especially neonatal resuscitation. During his “current position” as Deputy Director of the hospital, Head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Department (now the Neonatal Center), although very busy, the doctor was still passionate about professional work and scientific research. improving and manufacturing medical instruments in the difficult conditions of the past decade to serve patients. She is considered the “mother” of tens of thousands of newborn babies, especially premature babies.

If speaking in “internet language”, the family of Associate Professor, Dr. Khu Thi Khanh Dung is “standard”.three generations in the medical profession”. In the 2000s, the “F1, F2” generation of her large family had many famous people holding important positions in the medical field. In the 3rd century, Dr. Hang (son of Associate Professor Dung) was the first person to continue this medical family tradition.

Tran Thi Thanh Hang, Dr. Dung’s youngest daughter, showed a talent for foreign languages ​​from a young age, considered her older sister an “idol” and never thought of following her mother’s medical profession.

One day, at the age of 17, a female student majoring in English from Amsterdam suddenly came home and told her mother that she intended to take the Medical University exam, instead of going to the Foreign Trade University like her older sister. Dr. Dung was very surprised, mixed with joy and worry. “Is it because of the pressure from the child that no one in the F3 generation was studying medicine at that time, the pressure because of the mother?”, she still worried.

She never intended to pursue a career in medicine, but from a young age, little girl Hang, born in 1989, was familiar with the image of her father taking Dung’s mother to the hospital in the middle of the night to change blood for newborn jaundice babies, and provide emergency care for children who had “become sick”. “The illness is as quick as the palm of your hand”, or while the mother is cooking, she thinks of something related to the patient and immediately calls the department to discuss further. Hang understands that it is a profession with humanistic meaning.

After six years of studying medicine in China, every summer vacation, Thanh Hang returned to the Children’s Hospital to follow the doctors to practice, take care of changing diapers for the babies, and was taught how to listen to the heart and lungs by her mother and doctors. see the doctor. The relationship with Pediatrics and Neonatology came very gently. In her third year of college, a 20-year-old female student was “heartbroken” for the first time by the image of a weeks-old newborn baby suffering from a serious illness, far from her mother’s arms, and in the hospital with all the medical facilities around her.

Then, during the 18-month internship period after graduation, I witnessed with my own eyes the miracle of a newborn baby who seemed to not survive but was miraculously saved by doctors. All of that made the 24-year-old young doctor decide to pursue her career with the youngest patients just born.

The medical profession is a special profession, but treating newborns and premature infants is much more special. Caring for and treating seriously ill newborn babies and premature babies born 24-25 weeks old (sometimes only 400-500g, lying in the palm of a doctor’s hand) is often very difficult because there are many complications. Symptoms and risks, the disease progresses quickly and severely, requiring physicians to be decisive, cautious and handle promptly.

The youngest patients in this hospital only know how to communicate with life through crying, with a “midwife’s teaching” smile, moving their hands, moving their lips and eyes, or flaring their noses. With more than 100 medical staff of the Neonatal Center, including Dr. Hang, the first lesson taught by the previous generation teachers and Associate Professor Dung is that in addition to improving skills, updating expertise , applying high technology in care and treatment, love, dedication, meticulous attachment, and sharing with patients are indispensable and must be cultivated regularly. For newborns, it is not just the examination but also the care and monitoring that is so important that not allowing even a small mistake.

Talk to Viet NamNet, Associate Professor Dung said that every patient needs a doctor’s love, but newborns, especially premature newborns, need more sharing and care. Newly born babies, instead of being held by their mothers, have to rely on respiratory support with ventilators and oxygen. We still think “children don’t know anything” but science has proven that just affectionate hand holding, gentle massage, loving eyes and small conversations from doctors and nurses can help children. The baby feels and is the motivation for the baby to overcome the illness every day.

“When I went to America, I was surprised and moved by the image of a male doctor walking in to examine a 400g premature baby. Looking at the hand cradling the newborn baby with gentle, meticulous, and considerate gestures like a mother’s, I realized that only a mother’s love can do that. I learned a lot from them and understood that it was necessary to inspire future generations about this story,” the expert recalled.

In 2013, Thanh Hang graduated from university, interned for 1 year and then officially became a doctor at the National Children’s Hospital. That was also the year the Deputy Director of Central Children’s Hospital Thi Khanh Dung was awarded the Vietnamese Women’s Award, one of the largest awards for Vietnamese women, for her outstanding achievements in 30 years of work in the field. field of Pediatrics. Many people think it is pressure for female doctor Tran Thi Thanh Hang, Associate Professor Dung herself also thought so.

Yet, chat with VietNamNet Regarding the pressure of “having a mother’s umbrella”, Dr. Hang smiled and said: “There is absolutely no pressure, only pride and imitation. Mother and daughter share the same profession, have many opportunities and topics to discuss from professional issues, how to communicate with families and patients, but what they like best is that their mother teaches them how to treat people and inspires them to endure. with the profession and wholeheartedly for the patients.”

Even though she is considered a decisive person at work, Dr. Hang still admits that her determination, patience, and endurance are still far behind her mother, who turns 68 this year.

More than 10 years ago, Dr. Dung made many people admire when he and his colleagues successfully researched and applied the KSE continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine made in Vietnam at a price of only about 2,000 USD, only 1/2 of the price. 5 imported price, to treat respiratory failure in newborns. The Department of Neonatology at that time under the leadership of Dr. Dung also applied the Kangaroo method. However, at that time, this care was only possible for children who were stable and co-located with their mothers.

From 2018 until now, following the achievements of the previous generation and Associate Professor Dung, the next generation and the young physicians of the Neonatal Center, including Dr. Hang, have been providing Kangaroo care for newborns. Young children are still receiving CPAP, non-invasive ventilation and special care, with the desire to help children be warmed by their parents’ love, shorten days on ventilators, stay in the hospital and help parents bond and share care. take care of your children every day.

“In the world, Kangaroo care is very popular because of its great benefits, but applications for children on ventilators and oxygen support are not many, especially in Vietnam. When I learned that young physicians in the department were determined to research this application, people from the previous generation like me were very supportive,” Dr. Dung excitedly shared.

Cases of premature newborns requiring mechanical ventilation or oxygen that previously had to be placed in the Intensive Care Unit and isolated from their parents are now located in the Kangaroo Intensive Treatment Unit, where the baby can sleep soundly on the mother’s chest. parents. “We are summarizing and evaluating the effectiveness after 5 years of applying kangaroo care for these pediatric patients. The humanity and health-economic efficiency of the method is certain because the hospital stay is shorter, helping to save treatment costs for the state and patients,” Associate Professor, Dr. Khu Thi Khanh Dung shared.

Looking at the achievements of the Neonatal Center after nearly 45 years in the industry, one thing that makes Associate Professor Dr. Khu Thi Khanh Dung proud is the attraction of this specialty to good doctors. Together, they continue to turn the National Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Center into a training center, improving Vietnam’s standard capacity to compare with other neonatal centers in the region and the world.

Along with the application of high technology, the process of training and retraining in basic techniques in neonatal emergency resuscitation is a regular and continuous job at this unit. Within the framework of cooperation with the Vietnam Newborn Organization, since 2016, Dr. Hang and young doctors at the Neonatal Center have been trained to improve their qualifications in neonatal resuscitation with experts from the UK. for 2 consecutive years at the hospital. After that, they became resource trainers of Vietnam’s neonatal resuscitation program, the first trainers in Vietnam to be certified by the European Resuscitation Council in neonatal resuscitation.

“Newly graduated doctors have the mentality of having to immediately do this or that great technology, forgetting about basic care. We just hope that you can squeeze the balloon and help the patient receive oxygen through the mask correctly, because it only takes 30 seconds but saves 99% of patients’ lives. Returning to the basics while developing advanced techniques, that is what we learned from Dung’s mother’s generation and our predecessors,” Dr. Hang emphasized.