Subjects: Nursing >> Nursing submitted time 2025-07-15
Abstract： A section in the 70th-anniversary special issue of Health News titled "Learning from Nurse Liang Jielian in 1954," briefly recounts the history of Liang’s creation and promotion of the painless injection method, describing it as "the most significant compassionate achievement in China’s nursing field of that era". The current article further situates Liang’s work through a comparative analysis with seminal international literature on the topic—such as Nicoll & Hesby’s highly-cited (130 citations) review in Applied Nursing Research (2002)—and major contemporary textbooks, including the 9th edition of The Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures (Dougherty & Lister, 2015). The results confirm that Liang’s innovation predated its international counterparts by two decades, and its principal techniques remain applicable today.
Liang Jielian had been a child laborer and lacked formal schooling. Her entire professional education consisted of a four-week training course with the Chinese Red Cross Ambulance Corps during the Anti-Japanese War. Her work was not an innovation in an obscure technique, but rather in a foundational procedure used extensively by thousands of nurses worldwide. This context further underscores the inherent innovative capacity of the Chinese people. China’s contemporary registered and practical nurses have received excellent education and possess superior innovative talents and wisdom. By building their confidence, they can undoubtedly create more numerous and meaningful advanced concepts and methods, such as novel approaches to better address the needs of an aging society. Consequently, the widely-held ideal of a painless and fulfilling life in old age may become attainable.
A new method for painless injection achieves genuine social significance only when translated into widespread, long-term application through learning, promotion, continuing education, and persistence. In these aspects, China has led other nations by at least thirty to forty years. This success is primarily attributed to the firsthand experience, emphasis, and support from leaders at all levels; the organization and mobilization by the Ministry of Health and the Chinese Nursing Association; broad dissemination by media outlets like Health News, the Chinese Journal of Nursing, People’s Daily, and the People’s Medical Publishing House; and most critically, the sustained efforts and educational leadership of generations of nursing experts such as Mei Zuyi, Yin Lei, Li Xiaohan, and Shang Shaomei, coupled with the active learning and long-term commitment of countless nurses. In short, this case is another powerful illustration of our nation’s systemic advantage in implementing beneficial initiatives with greater speed and effectiveness.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
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