Sun Xiuyan.
Not long ago, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Construction of Geriatric Departments of Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospitals" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring all traditional Chinese medicine hospitals to set up geriatric departments and build and manage them as independent departments according to the scale of the local elderly population and the demand for traditional Chinese medicine services. This will undoubtedly add impetus to meet the growing health needs of elderly patients and improve the quality and level of traditional Chinese medicine services for the elderly.
Elderly patients are a special and complex social group, and the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and prognosis of geriatric diseases are different from those of young people. For example, there is multi-disease coexistence and complex clinical manifestations; The onset is slow and can be easily confused with general physiological changes in aging; Wait a minute. At the same time, due to multiple chronic diseases and health problems, it is not uncommon for elderly patients to "look at the heart in the morning and the joints in the afternoon", "do color ultrasound for a while, and check CT for a while". In addition, it is more inconvenient for the elderly to seek medical treatment than young people, so it is necessary to set up a geriatric medicine department to allow the elderly to see a doctor in one stop.
In February 2022, 15 departments, including the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Education, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, jointly issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Healthy Aging", proposing 9 major tasks, and the development of traditional Chinese medicine health services for the elderly was listed as one of them. The "Notice" issued this time also proposes to further strengthen the construction of the geriatric department of the Chinese medicine hospital, which will further facilitate the treatment of elderly patients and enhance their sense of gain, happiness and security.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has its own advantages in serving elderly patients. The core of geriatric medicine lies in the diagnosis and treatment of geriatric diseases according to the physiological and pathological characteristics of the elderly, which requires a holistic concept, comprehensive thinking, and multidisciplinary integrated medical treatment, and Chinese medicine services can play a positive role in this regard. First of all, for the common, frequent and chronic diseases of the elderly, it is helpful to solve the difficult problems of geriatric syndrome by following the thinking of traditional Chinese medicine and treating them individually and in stages. Secondly, the concept and technology of the traditional Chinese medicine system are economical and effective, small, simple and easy to implement, which is of great help to promote the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and improve the survival and quality of life of the elderly. In addition, the idea of prevention of disease and prevention of disease in traditional Chinese medicine is particularly important for the elderly, and traditional Chinese medicine sports such as Tai Chi, Baduanjin, and Wufowl Opera can play a positive role in the regulation of physical fitness, which not only strengthens the body, but also cultivates sentiment, which is of great benefit to improving the health level and quality of life of the elderly.
The history of the construction and management of the geriatric discipline of traditional Chinese medicine in China is not long, and the establishment of the geriatric department in the hospital of traditional Chinese medicine should not only clarify its functional positioning of diagnosis and treatment services, pay attention to the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine, and improve the ability of comprehensive diagnosis and treatment, but also strengthen the construction of talent echelon and actively carry out scientific research on the prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases with traditional Chinese medicine. To this end, in the "Notice" issued this time, it is clarified that the geriatrics department of the secondary Chinese medicine hospital mainly provides the diagnosis and treatment of common and frequent diseases of the elderly in the region; **The geriatrics department of the Chinese medicine hospital should make full use of the technical methods of traditional Chinese medicine and modern science and technology, focusing on providing diagnosis and treatment services for acute and critical diseases and difficult and complex diseases in the geriatric department and outpatient diagnosis and treatment services for the dominant diseases of traditional Chinese medicine; The national geriatric specialty of traditional Chinese medicine should take the lead in forming a specialty alliance to promote the sinking of high-quality traditional Chinese medicine geriatric resources, standardize diagnosis and treatment behaviors, and improve service capabilities through specialized assistance, technology promotion, academic exchanges, scientific research collaboration, etc. The differentiated functional positioning can not only meet the different needs of medical treatment, but also play a positive role in promoting the cultivation of talents in the geriatrics of traditional Chinese medicine.
Traditional Chinese medicine contains thousands of years of health preservation concepts and practical experience of the Chinese nation, and is a treasure of Chinese civilization, embodying the broad wisdom of the people of Chinese and the Chinese nation. Give full play to the unique role of traditional Chinese medicine in preventive health care, chronic disease management, and other aspects, and actively explore the full-cycle management of the health of elderly patients.
People** 2024-02-09 19th edition).