Over the past 4 decades Chinese medicine (CM) has come increasingly into the spotlight in the United States as the clinical effectiveness of CM has been not only empirically well-tested over a long period of time but also proven by recent scientific research. It has proven cost effectiveness, safety, and is authorized for natural and holistic approaches. In consideration, CM is one of the underutilized health care professions in the United States with a promising future. However, CM faces many challenges in its education and system, its niche in the health care system as an independent profession, legal and ethical issues. This paper discusses the confronting issues in the United States: present education, standards of CM education with shifting first professional degree level, new delivery systems of CM education. Development of new research models, training of evidence-based practice, and implementation of integrative medicine into CM education also are the key issues in the current CM profession. This paper also discusses opportunities for the CM profession going beyond the current status, especially with a focus on fusion medicine.
Education, Medical ; methods ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; United States

Nowadays, a great number of traditional Chinese patent medicine (TCPM) are used more and more widely to treat cerebral infarction in China. When great attention is paid to using TCPM in the real world, several problems can be identified: ignoring the Chinese medicine (CM) therapeutic principle based on syndrome differentiation, a lack of appropriate dosage and usage based on individual patient conditions, and a shortage of evidence from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. Furthermore, in terms of evaluation of the TCPM effectiveness, few comprehensive criteria and evaluation methods recognized by the international community exist. This article addresses some opinions regarding the above mentioned problems.
Animals ; Cerebral Infarction ; drug therapy ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Patents as Topic