The Third Affiliated Hospital of ZCMU (Zhongshan Hospital of Zhejiang Province) was selected in the Pilot Clinics of Standardized Training and Teaching for TCM Doctors List released by the Chinese Medical Doctor Associationon June 21st, 2022. 20 out of 268 national TCM resident standardized training bases were selected. The Third Affiliated Hospital of ZCMU is the only one in Zhejiang included in the List.

The Third Affiliated Hospital of ZCMU, a grade-A tertiary hospital, is also among Zhejiang Provincial TCM resident standardized training assessment centers, the first batch of national TCM resident standardized training bases, and of Zhejiang Provincial TCM and Western medicine resident standardized training bases.

The Third Affiliated Hospital of ZCMU initiated TCM internal medicine teaching pilot clinic in 2017. It explored the teaching clinic system and recruited a cohort of chief and associate chief physicians with solid knowledge of TCM basic theory and abundant clinical experience. By conductingrotation training classes for national TCM resident standardized training and teaching directors and training classes for Zhejiang Provincial TCM resident standardized training backbone teachers, the Third Affiliated Hospital of ZCMU has developed a sophisticated teaching clinic operation scheme and promoted its teaching clinic mode across the country.

In the teaching clinic, a new teaching mode different from the traditional one where teachers see patients and students learn alongside, resident training students take over the clinical processes, and teachers supervise and make decisions. In theTCM teaching clinic, students see patients independently under the guidance of superior doctors and receive clinical training comprehensively, encompassing clinical processes, four TCM diagnostic methods, treatment based on pattern differentiation, and doctor-patient communication.

In the novel and unique TCM teaching clinic, students turn into attending doctors and independently carry out a series of clinical practices, including medical history inquiry, physical examination, diagnosis and treatment, while teachers offer guidance as an assistant to help students develop a TCM clinical mindset quickly. The implementation of this teaching mode not only prompts students to solve clinical problems with a comprehensive application of the TCM mindset but also improves their core competencies, like medical knowledge and skills, patient care, communication and cooperation.