A study on nursing effect of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine management mode on COVID-19

This study aims to explore the effect of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine management mode on nursing care of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The study included 142 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Huoshenshan Hospital from February to March 2020. Nursing measures in the treatment (n = 111) and control (n = 31) groups included integrated management care and usual care. The integrated management model had eight components: WeChat group management, early Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment, emotional nursing, music therapy, observation of tongue coating and pulse, vital Qi strengthening, preventing recurrence after recovery, and an individualized follow-up scheme. The endpoints included clinical outcome, recovery time of clinical symptoms and signs, days of hospital stay, and survival without intensive care unit (ICU) admission.

Recovery time from clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches, and fatigue in the treatment group was shorter than that in the control group. Less time was required to show negative chest computed tomography findings in the treatment group than in the control group (13.0 ± 2.8 vs. 16.7 ± 3.9, p < .025). The lengths of hospital stay in the two groups were 16.4 ± 7.3 days (treatment group) and 24.4 ± 4.8 days (control group) (p < .001). Kaplan-Meier curves for survival without ICU transfer showed statistical difference between the two groups (χ² = 5.427, p = .020).

Our study shows that the integrated management mode can relieve the symptoms of patients faster, shorten hospital stay and disease course, and reduce the rate of ICU transfers.