A pre- and post-course survey of an elective Chinese medicine curriculum among junior Western medical students in Taiwan.
Sunny Jui-Shan Lin, Shung-Tai Ho, Yi-Chang Su, Chien-Sung Tsai, Shu-Meng Cheng, Cheng-Yi Cheng, Tso-Chou Lin, Chien-Jung Lin
Author Information
Sunny Jui-Shan Lin: Department of Chinese Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan.
Shung-Tai Ho: Department of Anesthesiology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 80756, Taiwan.
Yi-Chang Su: National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, 11221, Taiwan.
Chien-Sung Tsai: Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan.
Shu-Meng Cheng: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan.
Cheng-Yi Cheng: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan.
Tso-Chou Lin: Department of Anesthesiology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan.
Chien-Jung Lin: Department of Chinese Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan. linchienjung@yahoo.com.
BACKGROUND: Demonstrating a positive impact of educational programs on clinical care outcomes is challenging. We assess students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as short-term outcomes of integrating a structured Traditional Chinese Medicine course within a Western medical school. METHODS: A prospective questionnaire survey was conducted among first-year and second-year undergraduate medical students who participated in the "Introduction to Chinese Medicine" course in 2020. The survey assessed their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors before and after completing the 32-hour course. RESULTS: In total, 89 participants who completed both pre- and post-course questionnaires exhibited significantly higher scores in Chinese medicine knowledge after the course (3.82 �� 0.67 vs. 4.05 �� 0.73, p = 0.002). The majority of medical students displayed positive attitudes towards traditional Chinese medicine (80.9% vs. 83.3%, p = 0.392), particularly regarding the statement, "Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes holistic considerations and whole person health to a greater extent than Western medicine does" (75.3% vs. 88.8%, p = 0.017). Additionally, most medical students reported proactive behaviors related to integrative care with Chinese medicine, including inquiring about Chinese medicine therapy history (76.4%), the concurrent use of Western and Chinese medications (78.7%) and participating in academic exchanges with Chinese medicine physicians (78.7%) after the course. More medical students expressed an intention to proactively learn more about Chinese medicine after the course (40.4% vs. 51.7%, p = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS: The elective "Introduction to Chinese Medicine" course enhanced Taiwanese Western medical students' knowledge of Chinese medicine, fostered positive attitudes towards integrative healthcare involving Chinese medicine, and increased their willingness to learn more about Chinese medicine for future clinical practice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registration prior to patient enrollment was not applicable because participants were not assigned to treatment groups in this study.
