Chinese Attitudes On The Modern Medicine Concept Of "Whole Person Care"

Following economic development, China has experienced a related increase of health issues including trends in obesity, heart disease, and chronic illness. As a result, the demand for healthcare has increased at a rapid pace and the growth of China’s medical needs is expected to continue. In recent years, the Western Medicine service model referred to as "Whole Person Care" has achieved a degree of success in the United States healthcare industry. Its supporters cite studies that indicate through its practice, this service model can improve the healthcare process by creating an environment that emphasizes care for the whole person, treating each patient as an individual with needs rather than a list of symptoms to be treated. In addition to the provision of medical care, doctors and nurses give consideration to the patients’emotional and psychological state during their hospital visit, in particular acknowledging any spiritual beliefs that may be important to the patient during the healing process. The improvements cited are better patient-provider relationships, more positive attitudes for both patients and providers, and higher patient satisfaction with healthcare services. Its providers have also witnessed a decrease in the rate of lawsuits and better patient compliance with instructions for post-treatment care.Previous research has focused on Chinese views of Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine, but has not explored perceptions of the Whole Person Care service model. Through analysis of literature that discusses Chinese perceptions of Traditional Medicine and Western Medicine, and interviews with whole person care providers at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, China as well as healthcare consumers views of these two methods of "holistic" healthcare, this paper attempts to discover how Chinese healthcare consumers view the western medicine concept of whole person care. Furthermore, interviews with healthcare providers explore the origin of problems created during the healthcare process and reveal a correlation to patient provider relationship dynamics and the information gap that exists during this interaction. Additionally, this paper examines the overutilization of antibiotics in China to illustrate a current and serious health issue and relate it to the concept and implementation of the Whole Person Care model.In regards to spiritual components of healing or the role that spiritual beliefs play during the healthcare process, interview responses indicate that this aspect of Whole Person Care is not as relevant for Chinese consumers, leading to the conclusion that other areas of service should be the focus of Whole Person Care providers in China. Furthermore, research results indicate that many of the problems that occur in relation to patient-provider interactions are due in large part to Chinese laymen-perceptions of medicine and the expectations that result from these views. However, through attempts to improve communication and community health education, the Whole Person Care service model has the potential to ameliorate some of the misunderstandings that occur during the provision of medical care.