China Medical University Hospital's Department of Chinese Medicine implemented the Chinese medicine day care program for chronic kidney disease commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare's TCM Section and offered the quality care of chronic kidney disease during the period from 2015 to 2016. The Department of Chinese Medicine worked together with the Nephrology Department on the 2015 Chinese and Western Medicine Day Care Program for Chronic Kidney Disease and the 2016 Chinese and Western Medicine Day Care Program for Diabetic Nephropathy, for the purpose of shared care for patients and setting up a team care model. The results were published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine, and the authors received an interview by Common Health Magazine issue 209.
Over the years, Chinese herbal medicine has been blamed for one of the causes of deterioration of kidney disease. Patients taking TCM was abhorrent to doctors of Western medicine and renal disease also had become a taboo subject that Chinese and Western medicine communities dare not and also do not want to talk about. However, more and more studies have found that taking curative TCM can actually protect the kidneys and delay the time it takes before undergoing hemodialysis. Chinese and Western medicine joint consultation can not only treat kidney disease, but also improve edema, pain, insomnia, and other symptoms. Moreover, the physicians are able to give patients acupuncture and prescriptions to alleviate common skin itching, hypotension, and other discomfort for kidney dialysis patients, in an attempt to effectively improve their quality of life.
Chinese and Western Medicine Day Care Program for Diabetic Nephropathy