Critical Review of Data Evaluation in Teaching Clinics of Traditional Chinese Medicine Outside China: Implications for Education

ObjectivesThe increasing acceptance of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) worldwide has highlighted the importance of ensuring the provision of high-quality TCM clinical education. This clinical training should be partly guided by a robust assessment of patient data outcomes in TCM teaching clinics. We undertook a comprehensive literature review to examine the data evaluation in TCM teaching clinics outside China and its implications for TCM education.MethodsLiterature was retrieved via MEDLINE (from 1946 to January 2015), EMBASE (from 1980 to February 2015), and Google Scholar for studies conducted outside China. The search was restricted to English articles reporting empirical findings related to the assessments of patient data in TCM teaching clinics, with implications for TCM education in countries other than China.ResultsOnly seven articles from six studies met the inclusion criteria. The characteristics and main symptoms of patients who received any TCM treatment in the context of teaching clinics among all included studies were similar. Symptom relief as well as a high level of patient satisfaction with TCM treatment were found in TCM teaching clinics. Conventional healthcare providers and other complementary practitioners were not the main source of referral to TCM practitioners but rather patients׳ friends/relatives. Patients received acupuncture treatment more frequently than treatments utilizing Chinese herbal medicine in teaching clinics. A standardized and consistent framework for patient records within TCM teaching clinics is currently lacking. There was no robust study which “translated” TCM clinic data evaluation findings into implications for TCM education and clinical training.ConclusionsRecognizing that TCM evolves over time and its practice varies in different settings, there is an urgent need to conduct large-scale, rigorous evaluations of TCM clinic data to address the findings of our review, with the purpose of better informing TCM education and clinical training in countries beyond China. Expansions for scientific efforts supporting TCM education are essential to ensure that qualified TCM practitioners are able to provide safe, efficacious, and cost-effective TCM treatment modalities.