What to look for in an Acupuncture / TCM School?

**roaring fist** · 12-19-2007, 07:34 AM

I have been considering going to an Acupuncture School for a couple of years, and I was wondering what kind of criteria I should look for in a school. I have researched for schools based on accreditation and other Western/Academic standards, but what other elements in the curriculum should I be looking for? The one school I was seriously considering was the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin, in Austin, TX. Is this a good example of a school that one should consider?

**Doc Stier** · 12-20-2007, 02:41 AM

The core curriculum at every school located in States with Government Regulation or Licensure, which includes Texas, is nationally established by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM). As such, both schools in Austin will offer the basic courses of study required by ACAOM to acquire and maintain their accreditation. The value of receiving an education from an accredited acupuncture school should not be taken lightly. Accreditation signifies that students may be assured that the school has been assessed and accepted by ACAOM, and that completion of such a program of study and examination will qualify the student to sit for the Licensure Exam required for professional practice by the Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners, established and overseen by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.

Aside from the core curriculum offered at both schools, each school will also offer certain elective courses which reflect specialized areas of study and practice among its respective Faculty Professors. These courses generally vary from one school to another everywhere, depending on the specialty experience and study of the Faculty Members.

In the past, the Faculty of the Academy of Oriental Medicine (AOM) has been primarily non-Asian, while that of the Texas College of Traditional Chinese Medicine has been primarily made up of native Chinese Professors. There are certain advantages to both scenarios, but you may find that you prefer one situation over the other. During the five years that I was a Professor at the TX College of TCM, the entire Faculty was Chinese except for me and one Korean Professor, and all but one Professor held Doctorate Degrees in the areas of study which they taught.

My suggestion would be to personally visit both schools at their Open House presentations prior to the commencement of a Semester, or at any other convenient time for you, and speak to the Dean, the Professors, and some of the students in attendance who have already studied at the school, in order to get a better take on the school environment and the people you'd be spending alot of time with (2880 hours) to complete the program.

I hope this helps!

Doc Stier, OMD

**roaring fist** · 12-20-2007, 07:28 PM

Doc Stier,
Thanks for the valuable advice, this will be a big help. I have been thinking and researching this decision for quite some time, since I will have to move to where I will be attending. If you have some time would you mind answering some questions, since one does not have access to such a qualified practitioner.

What about practicing do you enjoy the most?

Has this profession been what you expected?

What were some challenges along your journey?

I wish to thank you in advance for your answers. I want to make the best qualified decision, since this is to be a big life change.

**couch** · 12-21-2007, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by roaring fist

Doc Stier,
Thanks for the valuable advice, this will be a big help. I have been thinking and researching this decision for quite some time, since I will have to move to where I will be attending. If you have some time would you mind answering some questions, since one does not have access to such a qualified practitioner.

What about practicing do you enjoy the most?

Has this profession been what you expected?

What were some challenges along your journey?

I wish to thank you in advance for your answers. I want to make the best qualified decision, since this is to be a big life change.

I am a Registered Acupuncturist in Canada, so some of what I experience/say may not apply, however I would like to give my input.

What I most enjoy is definitely the people and helping them with conditions that don't respond well to traditional therapies. I'm in this business because, personally, my outlook in life doesn't really fit into a box or, rather, a western medical view. I like the ability to look at something "old" in a fresh new way and bring light to a subject. I find that most Oriental Medicine practitioners have a big heart. This art form of healing is a perfect way to branch out and really touch people in ways that (most) conventional medicine can't.

The profession hasn't been as I expected, because when you go into small business for yourself (or work with other practitioners, even) you really start to deal with your crap. Any life issue that drags down your healing and earning potential has to be evaluated and dealt with in order to succeed. It is very rewarding for both your clientelle and, of course, yourself to do this!

The greatest challenge for me was keeping my head afloat. I've only been in business now for under a year and it has taken a lot of business model changes and lots of love and support from family members and friends. When you first start out, as I did on my own, you sometimes sit alone without anything to do (not entirely true, as marketing is continuous - but I hope you get the idea). The mind-chatter squeezed it's way in and made me wonder at times if I made the right decisions.

I know you haven't even begun school, but I want you to consider studying two business models. This, I think, will prepare you even more.

First, is the "high-end" model. This is high-pay and low clientelle volume. http://buildyourdreampractice.net/

Second, is the "low-end" model. This is low-pay and high clientelle volume. http://www.communityacupuncturenetwork.org/index.php

Neither is better than the other, but I share this information with you so that you can get an idea how versatile the Oriental Medicine is. I run my clinic (and am constantly tweaking it) to reflect my personality which lies somewhere between the two models.

Hope this helps. I'm going to PM you my e-mail address if you would like to converse anymore.

Yours in health,
Kenton Sefcik

**Doc Stier** · 12-21-2007, 01:19 PM

I'll make an honest effort to answer your questions, and hope that my replies are not too discouraging to you.

"What about practicing do you enjoy the most?"

The most enjoyable aspect of working in the field of Oriental Medicine for me has always been the satisfaction of being able to offer compassionate, effective assistance to those who are suffering or diseased, especially those who would normally fall through the cracks of mainstream Western Medicine management by prescription drugs and surgery, for whom help and hope often seems unattainable otherwise.

"Has this profession been what you expected?"

Well, yes and no! Yes in terms of the previous question above, but no in terms of the legal status and constant intervention by the State Board of Medical Examiners. When Texas Licensure was finally legislated into law in 1993, and the Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners was established, there were an estimated 2500 professional acupuncturists statewide. Of these, approximately 350 were automatically granted a License under the Grandfathering and Reciprocity Provisions of the legislation, of whom I was one. At the time, it appeared that Oriental Medicine was finally being taken seriously as a legitimate modality of primary health care by the mainstream medical community, and being validated by official government sanctioning through licensure, just like other licensed medical specialties.

However, each year since then, new restrictions and impediments were passed into law, which have served as stumbling blocks to acquiring the Acupuncture License or renewing it once it was secured. As a result, even though the four nationally accredited schools in Texas each turned out growing numbers of graduates each semester, the overall number of Licensed Acupuncturists has dwindled rather than increased. Perhaps it was the goal all along to get rid of the professional competition which acupuncturists represented.

Additionally, legislation is presented every year in a continuing attempt to reclassify the practice of Acupuncture and its related Oriental Medicine techniques as the Practice of Medicine...i.e. Western Medicine, which would make treatment via these modalities the sole domain of Licensed Physicians, most of whom are not schooled in these treatment techniques and are not likely to incorporate them into their Medical Practices, since they already have all they can handle to stay abreast of everything directly related to their primary practice.

Other legislation wishes to limit acupuncturists to only treating patients who are referred to them by Licensed Physicians. While a few dozen acupuncturists statewide may enjoy such a relationship with a Licensed Physician, who happens to be a close friend or relative, most practitoners like myself do not.

In response to your final question, these are the challenges faced by anyone wishing to pursue a career in Oriental Medicine. As with so many thousands of practitioners in the past 14 years here in Texas, and similarly in other States, I was denied renewal of my Acupuncture License of 12 years time on a legal technicality, and am now retired after 30+ years of very successful practice in three different States. So think long and hard before spending the necessary time and money to pursue this career path, because it may not really be there for you by the time you complete the required educational program. I'm sorry!

Doc

cjurakpt · 12-21-2007, 01:58 PM

I would add to what others have written that before entering any healthcare profession, one wants to thoroughly look at things like career satisfaction 10 yeas out (practitioner burn out is a huge issue no one wants to talk about in schools), economic data, practitioner demographics, etc., especially if the profession is not as directly mainstream as other; for example, as a PT, while I may not end up in my dream job, I will always have work available somewhere in a pinch, so at least $ won't be a significant concern; for an LAc, that option just doesn't exist, for the obvious reasons; and take to heart what Doc said - while it strikes me as totally unconscionable that someone with 30 years experience can be denied relicensure due to a technicality, things like this do happen, and if they are politically motivated (e.g. - "paid for" by the anti-acupuncture lobby), you will have little more than a snowball's chance in hades of relegislating them;

the point is, due your "big picture" homework, and try to have a clear handle on the logistics of survival once you get out before you go drop a chunk of change into something that may not pay off in the long run; once you are clear on that, then you will be much more able to take advantage of your schooling instead of stressing out as much about how you will survive after graduation!

cjurakpt · 12-21-2007, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by Doc Stier

Additionally, legislation is presented every year in a continuing attempt to reclassify the practice of Acupuncture and its related Oriental Medicine techniques as the Practice of Medicine...i.e. Western Medicine, which would make treatment via these modalities the sole domain of Licensed Physicians, most of whom are not schooled in these treatment techniques and are not likely to incorporate them into their Medical Practices, since they already have all they can handle to stay abreast of everything directly related to their primary practice.

fu(kers - they can't just leave you guys in peace - we routinely get the same crap up here in NY - MD lobby trying to limit our access and scope of practice rights; even the chiros introduce legislation every now and again to limit the right of PT's to do "thrust" manips...

**Shaolin Wookie** · 12-23-2007, 06:42 AM

Just out of curiosity, is there a liscensing requirement for professional practice? I used to proctor tests part-time for Thomson Prometric, so I oversaw the testing for med. students (Step 1-3 tests), and all sorts of physical therapy including massage therapy. Is there such a thing for acupuncture?

**pilgrimsunwukun** · 12-23-2007, 02:12 PM

To the guy wondering about acu schools

These threads often crack me up since they generally are pretty pessimisstic. The Chinese medicine schools in the US all have the same curriculum basically since there is the need to pass the national boards. Then there are some states (California I believe relies on their own state exam to measure qualifications) who don't have a national exam and others that say take the nationals first, then take our state exam. Some states want nothing to deal with a state exam and just want people to prove they passed the nationals-like Oregon.

The NCCAOM has a booklet on the licensing requirements of all the states.

Most people who do Chinese medicine have a private practice. You have all the problems of anyone who runs their own business as oppsed to folks like the physical therapy guy, who sounds like he works in a hospital or clinic. Private practice is all about how do you get people to walk in through the door. If you work in a hospital or clinic that concern is not so great- when did you last hear of a hospital closing down?

The working class/sliding scale/ often treat people in a group room as opposed to individual room treatments are often used by practitioners who believe they don't want insurance to dictate their treatments . Also some people don't have health insurance hence sliding scale enables trhem to access Chinese medicine.

Once you decided how you're getting people into your clinic, the next issue becomes payments, insurance, cash, barter, fixed rate, sliding scale. Then there's budgeting for toilet paper, business phone, herbs- bulk, patents, granuoles, tinctures. Whatever.

A big issue is also location. Texas, Ohio, I believe Pennsylvania, Michigan all require a referral from a MD before or quickly once the therapeutic relationship begins. States like Arizona and New Mexico had acupuncture in a nebulous legal state until the early 2000s. Such situations often require you to pay the MD for the something- the referral perhaps or you may need to be working under the MD supervision.

A new painting company has as many worries as a new acupuncturist.

I advise chieck out lots of schools. Get their catalogs. Maybe visit. If I did it over again, I'd attend Dan Bensky's school in Seattle. It's a small school with excellent teacher to student ratios. I went to the Oregon College Of Oriental Medicine, making that , of course the best school in existence. Kidding

Learning Chinese medicine is expensive. So are other Master level degrees. Sometimes you need to eat bitter. Sometimes you need to have two jobs. Doc Stier's situation of being grandfathered in then losing things due to a technicality after 30 years illuminates some of the prejudices complimentary medicine faces.

There are also lots of people who heeded the I Ching's advice of perseverance furthers and have been in practice for years and are happy. The education gets more expensive and harder every year. Don't wait

Steve

**roaring fist** · 12-26-2007, 05:52 AM

To all I hope you are having a good holiday season.

I would like to thank you for all of the different insights and perspectives. Living in Ohio, if I wish to go to the Acupuncturist I have to first go to the General Practitioner first. I have tried this process once, and after explaining the law to my doctor, she thought it had to do with insurance; she finally gave the paper that said I had what I knew I had, sleep apnea. I think the whole process was a little crazy.
Fortunately, I have been running a small business for a little while, so going out on my will be walking on somewhat familiar ground.

Before I wear out this thread I have a final question:

In your opinion, is there an advantage to a school that has a more focused curriculum? I have noticed that some teach some herbology and Tui Na and others do not. Are these disciplines better left as stand-alone programs?

Again, thank you for all of the advice and straight shooting, I appreciate the responses.

**pilgrimsunwukun** · 12-26-2007, 07:41 PM

Hey
I think most schools are slowly getting toa 3 if not 4 year program to obtain a master's degree. Compare that to the length of time for a MBA or a master's in English, philosophy, engineering- there are not many Master's programs that take 3 or 4 years to do.
Some schools offer tui na one term , shiatzu another term , then you can choose what you want to get into for another year or two. Schools all offer herbology classes. All except for Ohio which has a wierd view of herbs, which aren't licensed by the Ohio BME. Unless you're a MD- I think.
Do a search for acupuncture schools- you can probably read course descriptions. I'm sure the school in Austin is great, there are many ways to get to Rome.
Where do you live in Ohio. Talking to acupuncturists there would be a good idea.

**GeneChing** · 09-08-2016, 09:34 AM

Look for a TCM school that holds Kung Fu tournaments.

TCM schools hold kung fu contest
Source:Ecns.cn Published: 2016/9/8 10:36:10

A participant performs kung fu during a traditional healthcare sports meet at Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Taiyuan City, the capital of North China’s Shanxi Province, Sept. 6, 2016. Hundreds of kung fu practicers from 26 schools of traditional Chinese medicine in China participated in the sports meet. (Photo: China News Service/Fan Lifang)

Actually, that looks more like modern Wushu than traditional Kung Fu.

Is there a Modern Wushu version of TCM? There is one for qigong now.

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