Abstract:

Objective To explore the effect of systematically integrating traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） science popularization practice into the TCM nursing course on nursing students. Methods From September 2025 to January 2026，a total of 206 students from four classes of Grade 2024 nursing major in a higher vocational college were selected as participants and divided into an experimental group and a control group by cluster sampling，with two classes（103 students） in each group. The control group received routine TCM nursing courses teaching. On this basis，the experimental group additionally participated in TCM science popularization practice activities tailored to course content in the second classroom. The two groups were compared in terms of course scores，TCM health literacy after the course，and TCM science popularization competence before and after the course. Course satisfaction of students in the experimental group was evaluated. Results After the course，the total course scores，TCM health literacy scores and overall scores of TCM science popularization competence in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group（P<0.001）. In the experimental group，94.1%-100.0% of students expressed positive overall satisfaction（very satisfied or satisfied） to all items in the course satisfaction questionnaire. Conclusion The integration of TCM science popularization transformation tasks and second-classroom practice into the TCM nursing course can effectively improve nursing students’ TCM science popularization competence，academic performance and TCM health literacy with high student satisfaction.

Key words: Education, Nursing, Higher Vocational Education, Traditional Chinese Medicine Nursing, Second Classroom, Science Popularization Competence, Course Reform