Abstract: Objective To analyze the current situation of safe use of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) in primary medical institutions in China, and to provide reference for improving the awareness and ability of safe and rational drug use in primary healthcare workers. Methods 685 primary healthcare workers from 28 provinces were investigated by anonymous survey questionnaires. The questionnaires included the basic information of respondents, the elementary knowledge of TCM safety, how to inform the patients about the medication, adverse reactions of TCM injections during clinical use. And 52 primary healthcare workers were interviewed randomly. The collected information was recorded in the Excel software, and classified, summarized and analyzed. Results 685 questionnaires were distributed, and the recovery was 100%. 55.04% of the respondents were western medicine professional, 12.70% were Chinese medical professional and 29.20% were integrated Chinese and western medical professional. Practitioners could prescribe Chinese patent drug and decoction pieces. But they did not know enough about Chinese patent drug which contains toxic ingredients and western medicine ingredients. Primary healthcare workers could take the particularity of each patient into account and inform them of drug use. In 52 respondents, 36 respondents had not been trained on reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Conclusion Primary healthcare workers have awareness of safe use of Chinese medicine and can correctly handle ADRs. But they lack knowledge about the TCM safety and awareness of ADR; thus they cannot make rational use of drugs in clinical medication. Due to lack of relevant training content of ADR, it is suggested that strengthen the training of drug safety and ADR reporting in basic medical institutions, to promoting rational use of medicine in medical institutions.

Key words: primary healthcare worker, Chinese traditional medicine, medication safety, investigation