Abstract: 【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the current status of pruritus care in dermatology departments of public hospitals in China. Methods A multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted. By convenience sampling, dermatology nurses were selected from 85 public hospitals across 17 provinces in China from September 2 to September 14, 2024, and a self-designed pruritus care questionnaire survey was conducted. The survey content included two parts: general information （e.g., education levels, professional titles, regions, hospital grades） and current status of pruritus care （e.g., pruritus care systems or standards, establishment of pruritus clinics, pruritus assessment, pruritus intervention measures, pruritus nursing training, and challenges in pruritus care）. Results A total of 607 nurses were investigated, including 322 （53.0%） from general hospitals and 285 （47.0%） from specialized hospitals; 359 （59.1%） were from tertiary grade-A hospitals. In total, 264 （43.5%） nurses reported that pruritus clinics had been established in their hospitals, 218 （35.9%） reported that pruritus nursing teams had been set up, and 283 （46.6%） noted a lack of pruritus care systems or standards in their hospitals. The most commonly used anti-pruritus measures were physical therapy （51.2%）, drug treatment （37.9%）, and environmental management （10.9%）. There were 418 （68.9%） nurses who had received pruritus nursing training. The most frequently used pruritus assessment tools were the numeric rating scale （n = 341, 56.2%） and the visual analog scale （n = 268, 44.2%）, while 165 （27.2%） nurses had not used any assessment tools. The most challenging issues in pruritus care were the selection of pruritus assessment tools （n = 303, 49.9%） and poor efficacy of pruritus control （n = 113, 18.6%）. Tertiary grade-A hospitals and hospitals with pruritus clinics exhibited higher rates of establishing pruritus care systems/standards and providing pruritus nursing training compared with non-tertiary grade-A hospitals and hospitals without pruritus clinics respectively （all P < 0.05）. Conclusions Public hospitals in China currently face issues such as inadequate pruritus care management systems, non-standardized pruritus assessment, and insufficient pruritus nursing training. Pruritus nursing levels were variable among different hospitals, and the standardization and homogeneity of pruritus nursing urgently need to be improved.

Key words: Pruritus, Dermatology, Nurses, Nursing, Disease management, Surveys and questionnaires