China improves nursing to meet rising demand for elderly care

BEIJING -- China has been improving gerontological nursing services in hospitals and communities to meet the growing demand for elderly care among its aging population, an official of the country's National Health Commission (NHC) said ahead of International Nurses Day, which falls on Sunday this year.

Xing Ruoqi, deputy director of the commission's medical administration department, said at a press conference on Saturday that the majority of China's elderly people live with multiple chronic conditions, leading to rising demand for gerontological care and age-related chronic disease care. Extending survival periods for chronic diseases are also increasing the demand for nursing and rehabilitation services, Xing noted.

Professional gerontological nursing training has been reinforced nationwide as part of China's efforts to improve the work of its 5.63 million registered nurses, Xing said.

"We aim to ensure that at least 90 percent of gerontological nurses in the country will have received skills training by 2025," she added.

She noted that China launched a pilot program in 2021 to promote elderly care in 15 provincial-level regions, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Sichuan. The number of health institutions providing elderly care services has since increased by an approximate average of 16 percent in these regions.

"Elderly care capacities at the community level need to be improved continuously," said Peng Bin, vice president of Beijing's Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH).

As one of China's leading hospitals, PUMCH provides regular training for nurses at community healthcare institutions, Peng said. The hospital's gerontological nursing team provides hands-on guidance on common practices for elderly patients, such as the placement of nasogastric tubes, effectively reducing risks in community nursing and ensuring patient safety, he added.

The PUMCH gerontological nursing team also makes regular visits to community hospitals and health centers to provide health education for the elderly, covering the prevention of and interventions for health issues such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, which are prevalent among older people, and the prevention of older adult falls, Peng said.

To expand access to healthcare services for older people and other population groups with limited mobility, the NHC has been promoting an internet-based healthcare model that allows patients to place orders for door-to-door nursing services online, Xing said.

The theme of this year's International Nurses Day in China is "Promoting the development of nurses and improving nursing services," as the public has been calling for more high-quality and personalized nursing services, according to the NHC.

Many elderly patients with relatively mild conditions experience anxiety, depression or other psychological issues, said Zhang Haiqin, a gerontological nurse with 10 years of experience at Dalian Friendship Hospital in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

"They require patient inquiries related to their feelings and needs, and attention to their emotional changes," she said.

Zhang works with about 10 patients every day and usually, three to five of those patients have disabilities. She said that as elderly patients often have multiple chronic diseases and complications, they require comprehensive treatment and care, which means her work is high-pressure and full of challenges.

Hospitals have taken measures to relieve the stress experienced by nurses so that nurses can provide services while maintaining supportive relationships with those in their care. According to Peng Bin, PUMCH has employed nearly 600 medical care assistants and auxiliary personnel to assist with basic tasks and patient care.

The hospital has also realized a centralized distribution of medicines and supplies to save nurses time, he said. It has also established a centralized intravenous fluid preparation center to shorten the preparation time, and optimized its information systems to relieve nurses of manual record-keeping work, Peng added.

"These measures have alleviated the burdens of paperwork and non-nursing tasks placed on nurses, bringing nurses back to patients and allowing them to spend more time observing, caring for and providing health guidance to their patients, and communicating with patients and their families," Peng said.