Analysis of the distribution and changes of Traditional Chinese Medicine resources / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the situation and changing trend of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)resources in China, for reference in rationalizing TCM service resources distribution.Methods:Data were collected from the China Health Statistics Yearbooks(2014-2021). The quantitative distribution and variations of TCM medical institutions as well as their beds and manpower in 31 provinces of China were analized by the ArcGis 10.8 software. Grey correlation analysis was used to analyze the factors that have a greater impact on the changes of TCM medical resources.Results:The number of TCM medical institutions, manpower and beds in China increased from 41 966, 894 690 and 794 160 in 2013 to 72 355, 1 513 024 and 1 432 900 in 2020 respectively. The ranking of the total TCM medical resources in each province remained relatively stable. Sichuan, Guangdong and Shandong ranked the highest, while the central and western regions ranked lower generally. TCM outpatient departments(clinics) contributed the most to the growing numbers of TCM medical institutions( r=0.96), while TCM medicine contributed the most to the growth of the number of TCM manpower and beds( r=0.65, r=0.66). Conclusions:The total TCM resources in China keep a rapid growth in recent years, yet with a relatively uneven distribution. Therefore, we should combine the actual situation at the grass-roots level, focuse on building a team of featured talents, improve the supervision and assessment system, perfect the talent training mechanism, strengthen the policy preference in key regions and the exemplary role of typical regions, to optimize the cultural atmosphere of TCM, and promote the development of TCM services.