Survey of Current Status for Kampo Education to Nursing Students at Public Universities and Colleges in Japan

Objective: Kampo education has been part of the curriculum in medical universities and colleges since 2001. However, it has not been the part of nursing university/college curriculum. The purpose of this study is to identify and follow the trend of Kampo education in Japanese nursing universities and colleges. We also gathered the opinion of beneficiaries of Kampo education, i.e. nursing students and teachers. Subjects and methods: The implementation status of Kampo education was investigated at departments of nursing in 90 schools of all Japanese public universities and colleges (n=90) in 2012 and 2016 using mail and web surveys. The recovery rate indicated 100%. In addition, questionnaire surveys concerning Kampo education were conducted among nursing students (n=208) and nursing teachers (n=365). Results: Although number of performing Kampo education increased from 27 in 2012 to 38 in 2016 significantly (p=0.04), it was smaller portion compared with medical courses (100%). In the consciousness survey on Kampo education, 75.5% of the nursing students and 88.8% of the nursing teachers responded that Kampo education was necessary. Conclusions: The present results indicated the necessity of Kampo education to nursing students. Because Kampo education was introduced into the nursing curriculum by the Japanese government recently, educational program should be arranged in the near future.