Thinking and practice of accelerating transformation of traditional Chinese medicine from experience medicine to evidence-based medicine

Abstract

The gradual development of Chinese medicine is based on constant accumulation and summary of experience in clinical practice, but without the benefit of undergoing the experimental medicine stage. Although Chinese medicine has formed a systematic and unique theory system through thousands of years, with the development of evidence-based medicine, the bondage of the research methods of experience medicine to Chinese medicine is appearing. The rapid transition and transformation from experience medicine to evidence-based medicine have become important content in the development of Chinese medicine. According to the features of Chinese medicine, we propose the research idea of “taking two ways simultaneously,” which is the study both in the ideal condition and in the real world. Analyzing and constructing the theoretical basis and methodology of clinical research in the real world, and building the stage for research technique is key to the effective clinical research of Chinese medicine. Only by gradually maturing and completing the clinical research methods of the real world could we realize “taking two ways simultaneously” and complementing each other, continuously produce scientific and reliable evidence of Chinese medicine, as well as transform and develop Chinese medicine from experience medicine to evidence-based medicine.

Keywords

Chinese medicine / experience medicine / evidence-based medicine / real world

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Key Project of Chinese National Programs for Fundamental Research and Development (973 Program) “Study on Fundamental Principles, Methodology, and Technology Platform of Clinical Evaluation Based on Syndrome Differentiation in TCM” (Number: 2006CB504601).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg