JCPSLP Vol 15 No 2 2013_lores

25 / 60

Clinical education
JCPSLP Volume 15, Number 2 2013 75
Keywords
speech-
language
pathology
speech
therapy
university
education
partnerships
Viet Nam
This article
has been
peer-
reviewed
Lindy McAllister
(top), Sue
Woodward
(centre) and
Marie Atherton,
Viet Nam’s first qualified
speech therapists
The outcome of a collaborative international partnership
Lindy McAllister, Sue Woodward, Marie Atherton, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, Claude Potvin, Huynh Bich
Thao, Le Thi Thanh Xuan and Le Khanh Dien
patients each year from the south of Viet Nam. Professor
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung is director of the ENT Hospital in
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), professor of ENT at Pham Ngoc
Thach University (PNTU) of Medicine, and as of January
2013 Rector of PNTU. She spent time as an ENT intern in
Lyon, France, where she learned about speech therapy. On
her return to HCMC, Professor Dung provided training in
speech therapy to nurses at the ENT Hospital and sought
opportunities for further training from visiting medical
specialists and speech therapists. Her dream of starting a
speech therapy training course was enabled through
meeting Sue Woodward (now a director of the Trinh
Foundation Australia) in HCMC in 2007. The ENT Hospital
has been a major clinical education site for the speech
therapy training course. Professor Dung provided advice on
the recruitment of students, approval of curriculum content
and development of clinical education sites for the first
course.
Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine
Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine is a municipal
university of HCMC offering courses in medicine, nursing,
midwifery, physiotherapy and medical laboratory sciences.
It was receptive to approaches in 2008 from Professor
Dung to host a two-year training course in speech therapy.
Since the course was established, PNTU has managed
admission of the speech therapy students, payment of local
lecturers, and through Dr Vo Hoang Nhan, liaison between
the course and local hospitals and clinics for clinical
education, with other Vietnamese agencies, and the local
People’s Committee who allow the course to be delivered.
Trinh Foundation Australia
Trinh Foundation Australia (TFA) was created in response
to a request from Professor Dung for assistance to
develop speech therapy training in Viet Nam. The founding
directors of TFA had all worked in hospitals and institutions
across Viet Nam as orthodontists or SLPs so were aware
of the urgent need for such training programs in order
to improve the quality of life of Vietnamese people with
communication and swallowing disorders. Steps were
undertaken in 2008 to establish TFA and meet Australian
government requirements to operate as a non-government
organisation, to manage, fund and resource this endeavour.
A key priority was to gain approval through the People’s
Aid Coordinating Committee and the HCMC Union of
Friendship Organisation to operate in Viet Nam. TFA
initiated partnerships, both within Australia and in Viet Nam,
Viet Nam’s first qualified speech therapists
graduated on 21 September 2012. Eighteen
graduate health professionals (nurses,
physiotherapists and medical practitioners)
completed a two-year speech therapy course
made possible by a partnership between
Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, the
Ear Nose and Throat Hospital of Ho Chi Minh
City (HCMC), Australian Volunteers International
and Trinh Foundation Australia. These 18
pioneering graduates have now returned to
their hospitals and disability services in
HCMC and Hue to establish speech therapy
services. This paper describes the roles of
the major partners in this significant
international development activity, overviews
the course content, structure and challenges,
changes for the second intake of students in
the course, and highlights future
developments in speech therapy in Viet Nam.
An estimated 15.7% of the 87 million people in
Viet Nam have a disability (Mont & Cuong, 2011)
and between 17–27% of these people may have
problems with speech and hearing (Kane, 1999). A range
of internal drivers (e.g., health, education and social policy
reforms, decreasing rates of poverty and increasing survival
rates) coupled with external drivers such as the Millennium
Development Goals (United Nations Development Program,
2000), improved access to information technology and
awareness of rehabilitation trends internationally have
created a demand and climate supportive of speech
therapy1 service developments in Viet Nam. This paper
describes the partnership between Vietnamese and
international organisations to develop and successfully
conduct the first speech therapy course in Viet Nam. It
briefly overviews the speech therapy course, and concludes
with the views of some graduates about the course and the
future of speech therapy in Viet Nam.
Course partners
Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital HCMC
The Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Hospital provides inpatient
and outpatient services to hundreds of thousands of