SIX LESSONS FROM THE EASTERN CHINESE MEDICINE BY DR. LEANA WEN

As a child growing up in China, I was always 
aware of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). 
TCM is what we refer to as Eastern medicine, in 
contrast to the Western medicine we know from 
U.S. hospitals. I never understood much about 
TCM, only that it somehow involves herbs and 
that many Chinese people used it. The more I 
progressed in my medical training in major U.S. 
academic centers, the more distanced I felt 
from TCM. Why should I learn about something 
that lacks evidence, when there’s so much to 
know about for which there is good research? 
Last fall, I went to China on a research trip. 
While my study is primarily on its Western 
medical system, I was so fascinated by what I 
learned of Eastern medicine that I spent many 
free evenings observing TCM practitioners. 
There is so much I didn’t know. As a discipline, 
TCM is far too complex for me to understand in 
my short observation, but there are some very 
important “lessons from the East” that are 
applicable to our Western medical practice: 

#1 LISTEN - REALLY LISTEN 
The first TCM practitioner I shadowed explained 
to me that to practice TCM is to “listen with 
your whole body”. Pay attention and use every 
sense you have, he said. I watched this doctor 
as he diagnosed a woman with new-onset 
cervical cancer and severe anemia the moment 
she walked into his exam room, and within two 
minutes, without blood tests or CTs, sent her to 
be admitted to a (Western) medical service. 
I’ve seen expert clinicians make remarkable 
diagnoses, but this was something else! 
“How could you know what you had and that 
she needed to be admitted?” I asked. 
“I smelled the cervical cancer,” he said. “I 
looked and saw the anemia. I heard her speak 
and I knew she could not care for herself at 
home.” (I followed her records in the hospital; 
he was right on all accounts.) 

#2 FOCUS ON THE DIAGNOSIS 
I watched another TCM doctor patiently explain 
to a young woman with long-standing 
abdominal pain why painkillers were not the 
answer. 
“Why should we treat you for something if we 
don’t know what it is?” he said. “Let’s find out 
the diagnosis first.” What an important lesson 
for us—to always begin the diagnosis. 

#3 TREAT THE WHOLE PERSON 
“A big difference between our two practices,” 
said one TCM doctor, “Is that Western medicine 
treats people as organs. Eastern medicine 
treats people as a whole.” Indeed, I watched 
her inquire about family, diet, and life stressors. 
She counseled on issues of family planning, 
food safety, and managing debt. She even 
helped patients who needed advice on caring 
for the their elderly parents and choosing 
schools for their child. This is truly “whole 
person” care! 

#4 HEALTH IS NOT JUST ABOUT DISEASE, BUT ALSO ABOUT WELLNESS 
There is a term in Chinese that does not have 
its exact equivalent in English. The closest 
translation is probably “tune-up to remain in 
balance”, but it doesn’t do the term justice, 
because it refers to maintaining and promoting 
wellness. Many choose to see a TCM doctor 
not because they are ill, but because they want 
to be well. They believe TCM helps them keep in 
balance. It’s an important lesson for doctors 
and patients alike to address wellness and 
prevention. 

#5 MEDICINE IS A LIFE-LONG PRACTICE 
Western medicine revers the newest as the 
best; in contrast, patients revere old TCM 
doctors for their knowledge and experience. 
Practicing doctors do not rest on their laurels. 
“This is a practice that has taken thousands of 
years to develop,” I was told. “That’s why you 
must keep learning throughout your life, and 
even then you will only learn just a small 
fraction.” Western medicine should be no 
different: not only are there new medical 
advances all the time, doctors need to 
continually improve their skills in the art of 
medicine. 

#6 EVIDENCE IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER 
Evidence-based medicine was my mantra in 
Western medical training, so I was highly 
skeptical of the anecdotes I heard. But then I 
met so many patients who said that they were 
able to get relief from Eastern remedies while 
Western treatments failed them. Could there be 
a placebo effect? Sure. Is research important? 
Of course. But research is done on populations, 
and our treatment is of individuals. It has taken 
me a while to accept that I may not always be 
able to explain why—but that the care should 
be for the individual patient, not a population of 
patients. 
“In a way, there is more evidence for our type of 
medicine than for yours,” a TCM teacher told 
me. “We have four thousand years of 
experience—that must count for something!” 
There is so much I have not covered about 
TCM. Its practices vary regionally, and no 
doubt, there are more and less capable 
practitioners (as there are in Western 
medicine). More research into TCM methods 
will be important. However, regardless of 
whether we Western doctors want to prescribe 
TCM treatments, we should recognize there is 
much to learn from Eastern medicine, including 
what it means to be a physician to really care 
for our patients . Upon my return from China, I, 
for one, have a new-found appreciation for 
Eastern medical practice a renewed 
understanding of holistic medical care. 
For more on holistic practice and the 
importance of partnership, please read my new 
book, When Doctors Don’t Listen . 
Dr. Leana S. Wen, M.D. , is an emergency 
physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and 
Massachusetts General Hospital and a clinical 
fellow at Harvard Medical School. She is the 
author of the new book, When Doctors Don’t 
Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and 
Unnecessary Tests . For more information, visit 
her blog The Doctor is Listening or her website. 
You can also follow her on Twitter at 
@DrLeanaWen. 

copas from http://www.emperors.edu/qiblog/2013/02/lessons-from-chinese-medicine/