Community nurses’ knowledge need toward traditional chinese medicine and related factors in China: A cross-sectional survey

[摘要] AbstractHighlightsThis study was to examine the knowledge need toward Traditional Chinese Medicine in nurses who worked in Community Health Centers, and to explore the related factors in the current situation of China. The results suggested nurses working in community care would like to learn more about TCM. Improving community nurses’ understanding and learning of TCM can promote the application and promotion of TCM nursing technology in the community.Editor’s SummaryCommunity nurses play an important role in disease prevention, medicine, health care, rehabilitation, health education, and technical guidance on family planning. It is important to understand the needs of community nurses for TCM knowledge, in order to improve the knowledge level and nursing skills of TCM. This study was to examine the knowledge need toward TCM in CHC’ nurses in China and to explore the related factorsABSTRACTPurpose: The aim of the study was to examine the knowledge need toward Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in nurses who worked in Community Health Centers, and to explore the related factors in the current situation of China. Subject and setting: Participants worked in five community health centres across Chaoyang Beijing, and each community health centre includes 4-7 health stations. A questionnaire survey was administered to 218 registered community nurses using cluster sampling. The investigation was conducted after obtaining informed consent from each participant. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to gather data in this study. Instruments: The survey tool was a 5-point Likert-type questionnaire designed by experts in TCM and related fields, which had good face validity and internal consistency. Results: The nursing technology of TCM scored highest score in our research (42.87 ± 5.74). Next came disease prevention in TCM (21.02 ± 2.67). The lowest mean score was for the usage of Chinese herbal medicine (15.03 ± 2.77). The significant related factors for nurses’ knowledge need towards TCM were educational background (P < 0.05), working unit (P < 0.01), “on-the-job training on TCM” (P < 0.01) and “have studied literature on Chinese medicine” (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This results suggest nurses working in community care would like to learn more about TCM. Improving community nurses’ understanding and learning of TCM can promote the application and promotion of TCM nursing technology in the community. Therefore, we could adopt targeted education for community nurses, in order to meet their knowledge needs, and to promote the application of traditional Chinese medicine knowledge to the community.

[学科分类] 护理学

[关键词] Community nurses;Traditional Chinese medicine;Knowledge need