Establishment of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Nursing Assessment Form Based on the Delphi Method for Chronic Wounds

Abstract

Background and objectives: The existing wound assessment tools, which are based on modern medical theory, limit the clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) nursing. This research aimed to develop a scientific, standardized, and characteristic TCM nursing evaluation form for chronic wounds.

Methods: Based on a literature review and research group discussions, an initial draft of an expert consultation questionnaire, based on literature from the past five years (2017-2021) from databases such as CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and SinoMed, was formulated. The authority of the experts was expressed using the authority coefficient, derived from self-evaluations, which is critical for ensuring the scientific validity and rationality of the indicator system. After three rounds of Delphi expert consultation, the TCM nursing assessment form for wound surfaces was finalized.

Results: The effective response rate for the three rounds of expert consultation questionnaires was 100%. The judgment coefficient was 0.85, the familiarity coefficient was 0.89, and the authority coefficient was 0.87. The coefficients of variation for the three rounds were 0.172, 0.044, and 0.013, respectively, while the Kendall’s coefficients of concordance were 0.406, 0.269, and 0.502, respectively, with statistically significant differences (p < 0.001). The final TCM nursing assessment form for wound surfaces included four basic information items, two primary indicators, 17 secondary indicators, and 13 tertiary indicators.

Conclusions: The TCM nursing assessment form integrates TCM syndrome differentiation principles and provides a standardized tool for the assessment of chronic wounds.

Keywords

Traditional Chinese medicine / TCM / TCM nursing assessment / Chronic wound / Syndrome differentiation / Delphi method

Acknowledgments

None.

Funding

Beijing Key Specialized Department for Major Epidemic Preven-tion and Control (Construction Project) (Jingweiyi No. [2019]161).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest related to this publication.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, writing original draft (LY), methodology (XX), data curation (SC, RX, CS), formal analysis (CW, GW, SA, SX), review & editing, funding acquisition (SW), supervision, and pro-ject administration (XP). All authors have approved the final ver-sion and publication of the manuscript.

Ethical statement

This research was approved by the ethics committee of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical Uni-versity (No. 2025BL04-029), and was conducted with the Decla-ration of Helsinki (as revised in 2024). Written informed consent was obtained from 30 patients in this study.

Data sharing statement

The data used in support of the findings of this study are avail-able from the corresponding author at [e-mail] upon request.

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