Traditional Chinese Medicine Ward

I. Department Overview

The Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University was established in 1986, when the hospital returned to its original location and resumed operations. Through the dedicated efforts of several generations of traditional Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese-Western medicine experts, including Liu Kan, Zhang Liqiu, Zhang Hong, and the renowned young and middle-aged physician Yao Wei, the department has developed over more than 30 years into the current clinical department integrating medical care, teaching, and research, with distinctive features of traditional Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese-Western medicine. It is now a national and Liaoning Province demonstration unit for traditional Chinese medicine work in general hospitals, as well as a renowned traditional Chinese medicine specialty in Dalian. Following the development approach of “highlighting the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine, leveraging the strengths of integrated Chinese-Western medicine, focusing on specialty development, and aiming to improve comprehensive services,” the department relies on the national key discipline of Integrated Chinese-Western Clinical Medicine, continues to forge ahead, reform and innovate, and actively promotes medical care, teaching, and research, achieving notable results.

II. Talent Structure

The department currently has 23 medical staff members, including 12 doctors, 2 therapists, and 9 nurses. Among the doctors, there are 5 professors, 6 with the professional title of chief physician, and 3 with the professional title of associate chief physician. Two hold doctoral degrees, 6 hold master’s degrees, and 1 is currently enrolled in a doctoral program. The department currently has 2 Outstanding Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinical Talents under the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance and Innovation “Hundreds, Thousands and Tens of Thousands” Talent Project (Qihuang Talents), 1 national backbone talent for the inheritance of distinctive traditional Chinese medicine clinical techniques, 1 person recognized as both a Young Famous Traditional Chinese Medicine Physician of Liaoning Province and an Outstanding Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinical Talent, 3 Dalian high-level talents (high-end talents), 1 Dalian high-level talent (young achiever), 1 emerging renowned traditional Chinese medicine physician in Dalian, 2 inheritors of the academic experience of renowned traditional Chinese medicine experts in Dalian, 1 Liaoning Provincial Teaching Master, and 2 Dalian Medical University Teaching Masters. There are 4 master’s supervisors.

III. Departmental Structure and Clinical Features

The Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine consists of outpatient services and an inpatient ward. The traditional Chinese medicine outpatient service includes a comprehensive traditional Chinese medicine clinic, an acupuncture and moxibustion clinic, and a traditional Chinese medicine tuina clinic. It also operates several specialty clinics, including clinics for traditional Chinese medicine oncology, insomnia, and spleen and stomach disorders. The traditional Chinese medicine clinical area has a beautiful environment and complete facilities, fully reflecting the treatment characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese-Western medicine and providing patients with convenient and comfortable services.

The traditional Chinese medicine ward has a comprehensive traditional Chinese medicine treatment room, including a multifunctional treatment room, a fumigation room, and a tuina room. It has a complement of 20 beds. Using integrated Chinese-Western approaches, including Chinese and Western medicines, acupuncture, tuina, and physiotherapy, the ward has established mature diagnostic and treatment capabilities for soft-tissue injury disorders in traditional Chinese medicine traumatology, spleen and stomach disorders, encephalopathies, dermatological diseases, gynecological diseases, tumors, rheumatic diseases, and various difficult and complicated diseases. It is particularly effective in treating lumbar disc herniation, cervical spondylosis with conservative treatment, post-stroke sequelae, acute facial neuritis (facial paralysis), herpes zoster, and traditional Chinese medicine spleen and stomach disorders.

Taking advantage of the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine techniques that are “simple, convenient, proven effective, and inexpensive,” the department provides various distinctive traditional Chinese medicine treatments, including Chinese herbal decoctions, acupuncture, electroacupuncture, tuina, cupping, bloodletting, Chinese herbal fumigation and washing, acupoint application, acupoint catgut embedding, auricular acupressure with seeds, and Chinese herbal foot baths. It applies distinctive traditional Chinese medicine techniques such as spinal balance therapy, the Naqi acupuncture method, the Dajiejing acupuncture method, and the Longsha Kaihe Six-Qi acupuncture method, together with modern medical physiotherapy methods such as low-frequency pulsed electrical therapy and medium-frequency pulsed electrical therapy, as well as modern diagnostic technologies, thereby highlighting the clinical characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese-Western medicine.

IV. Research

The department emphasizes combining traditional Chinese medicine with modern scientific research, as well as the clinical translation and application of scientific research. It has made phased progress in research fields including anti-aging, antitumor treatment, and tumor cachexia in traditional Chinese medicine. It has undertaken more than 30 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and by provincial and municipal authorities, obtained 3 patents, served as chief editor or contributing editor of more than 30 books, and published more than 260 papers in professional journals at various levels in China and abroad, including more than 30 papers indexed by SCI. It has received 9 scientific research achievements at the municipal level or above, including 1 first prize, 2 second prizes, and 2 third prizes for scientific and technological progress awarded by the provincial government.

V. Teaching

The department undertakes teaching and clinical internship supervision for undergraduates in Clinical Medicine, Integrated Chinese-Western Clinical Medicine, and the Acupuncture and Tuina program at Dalian Medical University, as well as for graduate students in Integrated Chinese-Western Clinical Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine. It has trained more than 200 graduate students. Each year, the master’s students and undergraduates trained in Integrated Chinese-Western Clinical Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine become backbone professionals in major hospitals and research institutions throughout China. The department places great emphasis on teaching research, has led more than 10 provincial- and ministerial-level teaching reform projects, has compiled more than 60 planned textbooks and national higher-education textbooks, and has published more than 20 papers on teaching research. It has received 2 provincial teaching achievement awards, and the Formulaology course was recognized as a provincial first-class undergraduate course. It also received 1 third prize in the Second National Teaching Basic Skills Competition for Young and Middle-Aged Teachers of Higher Medical Colleges and 1 first prize in the 12th Young and Middle-Aged Teachers’ Teaching Competition of Dalian Medical University.