By Yu Dong, Miao Yanqing and Li Zi, Research Team on “Improving China’s Health Education System”, Social Development Research Department, DRC

Research Report, Special Issue, No.68, 2019 (Total 1696) 2019-9-18

Abstract: The health education at medical institutions constitutes an integral part of disease prevention and treatment, due to its close relationship with medical care and public health. Inquiring, answering and instructing are indispensable components of the medical treatment, each link of which could touch upon health education on specific diseases. With the rise of modern public health, the connotation of health education in medical care process has changed a great deal, which targets at the health needs of the patients more pertinently. Since China began its reform, some problems have come up in the medical field such as loose combination between disease prevention and disease treatment, lack of motivation for institutions and personnel to carry out health education due to inadequate incentives, impotent health education services and their disjunction with medical treatment. The root-cause of these problems lies in the operational mechanism for the medical service system. Therefore, the following suggestions are made to cope with the problems. Focus should be put on the institutional and mechanism reform so that medical institutions can fully play their role in health education. Personal service contract and diagnosis and treatment grading mechanism need to be promoted. The services provided by both the institutions and the staff need to be enhanced through multiple approaches. And an effective binding mechanism needs to be established to encourage the medical institutions and personnel to voluntarily share knowledge about health with the patients and their families.

Key words: medical institutions, health education, system and mechanism