Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

The Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine has a history of nearly 50 years. It is currently a National Clinical Key Specialty of the Ministry of Health (Traditional Chinese Medicine), a Key Discipline of TCM Pulmonary Diseases of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a National TCM Advantageous Specialty, the leading institution of the National Pulmonary Disease Collaboration Group, a National Clinical Pharmacology Base of the Ministry of Health, one of the three major national pulmonary function research bases, a Key Discipline of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Clinical Medicine of Zhejiang Province, the leader of the Pulmonary Disease Group of the Zhejiang Provincial TCM Advantageous Specialty Alliance, the Key Laboratory of Respiratory Function of the Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Zhejiang Provincial Respiratory Physiology Research Center, a Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Zhejiang Province, the postdoctoral research station for TCM Internal Medicine of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, a doctoral program in TCM Internal Medicine, and a master’s program in Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Clinical Medicine. It has been selected multiple times as the “Best Research-Oriented Pulmonary Disease Department” by Guangzhou E-Share. In 2020, it passed the national PCCM accreditation program; in 2021, it was awarded the title of Outstanding Unit among tertiary hospitals in the National PCCM Standardized Construction Project. It has ranked second nationwide in the academic influence rankings of TCM hospital disciplines (specialties).

Technical Advantages

The department consists of outpatient services, general wards, a Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU), a bronchoscopy room, a pulmonary function room, and other units. The three campuses have a total of 130 beds; the average annual number of discharged patients exceeds 4,000, and the annual total number of outpatient and emergency visits exceeds 120,000. The discipline has specialized outpatient clinics for chronic cough, small pulmonary nodules, bronchial asthma, pulmonary rehabilitation, and other diseases, as well as multidisciplinary joint clinics for small pulmonary nodules, pulmonary fibrosis, refractory cough and dyspnea, allergic diseases, and others. It has extensive experience in the diagnosis and treatment of common and frequently occurring respiratory diseases, difficult and complicated diseases. Each campus has an independent bronchoscopy room equipped with rigid bronchoscopes, endobronchial ultrasound, fluorescence bronchoscopes, helium-argon gas and cryotherapy working platforms, medical thoracoscopes, electronic bronchoscopes, and other facilities. It performs various bronchoscopic examination and treatment techniques, including transbronchoscopic lung biopsy, cryotherapy, stent implantation, endoscopic ligation, balloon dilation, argon-helium knife treatment, and others, as well as medical thoracoscopy and other examinations, reaching an advanced level in Zhejiang Province and even nationwide. The discipline has an independent pulmonary function room and Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU), equipped with noninvasive ventilators, high-flow respiratory humidification therapy devices, ultrasound diagnostic equipment, sleep monitors, German Jaeger pulmonary function instruments, German Contec ultrasonic pulmonary function instruments, Japanese Chest 3D pulmonary function instruments, Japanese Chest J-21 airway reaction testing systems, Swedish NIOX exhaled nitric oxide measurement systems, and other advanced equipment. It performs pulmonary ventilation function tests, pulmonary volume measurements, bronchodilation tests, pulmonary diffusion function measurements, bronchial provocation tests, respiratory resistance measurements, exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) testing, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, sleep-breathing examinations, and other tests, covering the complete chain from basic diagnosis and treatment to critical care.

The discipline inherits the Yang School of Internal Medicine founded by Professor Yang Jisun, a representative of Zhejiang-style TCM. Under the leadership of National Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine Ge Linyi, and with Xu Zhiying, Song Kang, and Wang Huiran, instructors in the national program for inheriting the academic experience of veteran TCM experts, it continues to develop the Yang School’s characteristics of “being meticulous and pragmatic, with refined skills and high moral standards,” building the specialty into one with its own academic characteristics and equal emphasis on Chinese and Western medicine. Under the leadership of Wang Zhen, a provincial distinguished TCM physician, Zhang Hong, the academic leader, and Yang Junchao, the specialty director, the discipline has developed further, focusing on the management of key diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchial asthma, chronic cough, pulmonary infectious diseases, pulmonary nodules, lung cancer, and interstitial lung disease, with emphasis on continuously optimizing integrated Chinese and Western medicine prevention and treatment programs.

Academic Status

The discipline is the chair institution of the Respiratory Branch of the Zhejiang Association of Chinese Medicine and the Respiratory Disease Professional Committee of the Zhejiang Association of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine. Each year, it organizes national- and provincial-level continuing education programs in traditional Chinese medicine, provides a platform for sharing knowledge resources, and promotes academic exchange and improvement. As the only PCCM advanced-training base of a TCM hospital in Zhejiang Province, it receives trainees from many hospitals nationwide every year and improves their specialty diagnosis and treatment, critical-care rescue, and research capabilities through relevant training. The discipline has 3 doctoral supervisors and 7 master’s supervisors, with strong clinical, research, and teaching capabilities. They undertake academic guidance, innovation-capacity development, ideological and political education, and other responsibilities for graduate students, and train more than 10 doctoral and master’s students each year. At the same time, the discipline undertakes classroom teaching, clinical practice, and standardized residency training instruction for undergraduates, master’s students, doctoral students, master’s students in integrated Chinese and Western medicine, doctoral students in integrated Chinese and Western medicine, international students, and students at other levels, cultivating clinical thinking and improving professional skills.

The discipline has 5 studios of distinguished TCM physicians. It has 1 National Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 4 instructors in the national program for inheriting the academic experience of veteran TCM experts, 2 provincial national TCM masters, 7 provincial distinguished TCM physicians, 1 provincial “Health Innovation Talent,” 2 provincial medical-sector rising stars, and 2 trainees in the Zhejiang Provincial Young and Middle-Aged Clinical Distinguished TCM Physician Program.

Research Achievements

The discipline has undertaken more than 70 research projects, including more than 10 national-level projects and 16 provincial- and ministerial-level projects, and has received 3 provincial- and ministerial-level awards and 10 awards at the departmental and bureau level. It has published nearly 300 papers, including nearly 50 SCI papers and more than 10 papers in CAS Tier 1 and Tier 2 journals; published nearly 20 textbooks and monographs; and led or participated in the formulation of more than 10 national- or provincial-level guidelines, protocols, and consensuses.