Objective Based on the acquirable and optimized evidences at present, to explore the challenge and countermeasures for the development of nursing discipline in China, and to provide suggestions for promoting the construction of nursing discipline, platform, and talent team. Methods The study materials were searched in the following electronic databases including PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP and CBM, as well as in the official websites of World Health Organization (WHO), International Council of Nurses (ICN), World Bank, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) of China, and the domestic universities, colleges or technical secondary schools. Then the statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 13.0 and Microsoft Excel software. Results a) By 2012, there were 855 nursing schools, 38 212 nursing undergraduates enrolled in universities, and 130 837 nursing students enrolled in junior colleges and senior vocational schools; b) The doctor-to-nurse ratio was 1 to 0.9 in 2010. The actual demand for doctors was 2.6 million, and there were still lack of 346 000 nurses; c) The age of nurses younger than 35 years old accounted for 50%. Those with primary professional title accounted for 64% to 69%, while less than 2.5% with advanced professional title; d) The training cost for a doctor and nurse/midwife in China only accounted for 2/5 of that in India and 1/5 to 1/4 in the sub-Sahara Africa; and e) To date, only 30.1% of disaster nursing studies in China provided research data, 30.6% were clinical experience and 38.3% were review. Conclusion Education and health systems need to be extensively reformed. It is necessary to train nursing students with core competencies using transformative learning. It is necessary to update textbooks and teaching methods, and funding should be appropriately increased. Nursing should cooperate with other disciplines, and apply evidence-based nursing methods to improve the quality of healthcare services and patient satisfaction.
Objective To evaluate the trends, dominant diseases and clinical outcomes of the global interventional therapy for tumors based on evidence, so as to provide references for standard access of interventional technology. Methods Such databases as PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI and VIP were electronically and comprehensively searched for relevant clinical or fundamental studies about interventional therapy for tumors from inception to September, 2012. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and extracted data. Then, descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS 13.0 and Microsoft Excel 2003 software. Results Totally, 4 544 studies were included, consisting of 4 136 (91.0%) clinical studies and 408 (9.0%) fundamental studies. These clinical studies including 155 systematic reviews (SRs), 338 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 1 191 clinical controlled trials (CCTs), and 2 451 case series or case reports (CSs/CRs). Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) were the most clinically frequenly-used interventional technologies for tumors, accounting for 32.6% and 17.1% of the total, respectively. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was the dominant tumor, which was mentioned in 99 SRs (57.6%), 198 RCTs (58.6%), 824 CCTs (69.1%) and 1 191 CSs/CRs (48.6%), following by colorectal liver metastases (CLM). Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) treating HCC resulted in a higher rate of 3-year survival (12 SRs/Meta-analyses) and lower recurrence (10 SRs/Meta-analyses) compared with percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI). Compared with hepatic resection (HR), RFA treating HCC resulted in lower rates of 3-year (11 SRs/Meta-analyses) and 5-year survival (9 SRs/Meta-analyses), and no significant difference was found in 1-year survival between the two groups (17 SRs/Meta-analyses). Preoperative TACE before HR or liver transplantation could not improve the survival for patients with advanced HCC (6 SRs/Meta-analyses), but postoperative TACE might prolong the 1-and 3-year survival (3 SRs/Meta-analyses). TACE combined with other interventional therapy (i.e., RFA, PEI) could also prolong the survival of HCC patients. For the treatment of uterine leiomyoma, uterine artery embolization (UAE) resulted in less hospital duration or operative time, and it caused a higher re-intervention rate, compared with surgery, but it lacked long-term outcomes. Conclusion Interventional therapy is an optional and promising technology for patients with tumors. We should well-consider currently available best clinical evidence as well as local medical facilities or skill level when applying them to clinical practice, so as to perform relevant interventional techniques with scientific, rational and standardized methods.