Vietnam: General introduction to Traditional Medicine, Level 5 of VQF

Vietnam: General introduction to Traditional Medicine, Level 5 of VQF - Illustrative image

According to the regulation on the minimum knowledge volume and required competencies for graduates from intermediate and college levels in Traditional Medicine issued together with Circular 54/2018/TT-BLDTBXH, the general introduction to Traditional Medicine, Level 5 of VQF in Vietnam is as follows:

- Traditional Medicine, Level 5 of VQF in Vietnam, is a profession with training based on the foundation of philosophy and empirical medical knowledge accumulated from generations of Eastern medical practitioners, passed down and developed by renowned domestic physicians, meeting the level 5 requirements in the Vietnamese national qualification framework.

- Traditional medicine diagnoses illness using methods such as: visual inspection (observing the patient and their environment), auditory examination (listening to the sounds from the patient's body and their complaints), interrogation (asking the patient and their family about relevant issues), palpation (examining using hands and instruments) to determine the disease state. In terms of treatment, traditional medicine uses methods such as acupuncture; oral or topical medications, and even massage.

The acupuncture method is based on a meridian system detailed with hundreds of acupoints on the body. The acupoints and meridians are linked to internal organs, treating disorders within those organs by intervening in the corresponding acupoints and additional acupoints if necessary. Remarkably, this system of acupoints and meridians cannot be described using Western medical methods of anatomy or physiology, even though in contemporary times acupuncture is used as an anesthesia method (anesthesia) in some surgeries (combining Eastern and Western medicine).

Herbal medicine includes herbs exploited and processed according to Chinese texts. Native medicine consists of herbs discovered by physicians on Vietnam's territory. The prominent physicians deemed the patriarchs of Vietnam's traditional medicine are Le Huu Trac and Tue Tinh.

Practitioners being graduates of Traditional Medicine, Level 5 of VQF in Vietnam are provided with basic knowledge of traditional medicine and trained in skills for examining, diagnosing, and treating common illnesses, as well as cooperating with traditional medicine doctors in patient care at traditional medicine hospitals, traditional medicine departments of general hospitals, clinics, health stations, traditional medicine associations, and private traditional medicine clinics using traditional methods such as Northern-Southern medicine, acupuncture, massage, acupressure, and therapeutic exercises. They also participate in the preparation, business of medicinal materials at medicinal material production, business establishments, and the trade of finished traditional medicine products...

Note: the minimum knowledge volume is 2,220 hours (equivalent to 90 credits).

Details may be found in Circular 54/2018/TT-BLDTBXH effective February 10, 2019.

Le Vy

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