|
Know
Your Acupuncturist...
Practitioners whose educational focus is in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine receive approximately
80% of their training exclusively in this field, and undergo an extensive clinical internship averaging 3 years. Other
healthcare practitioners may use acupuncture, which is one of the many therapies of Oriental Medicine, as an adjunct to their
primary practice. While all of thse practitioners also have training in western medical sciences, this chart is designed to
illustrate the varying levels of acupuncture training generally undertaken by heathcare professionals.
Amount
of Training In Acupuncture
|
|
1361 hours to 2000 hours in Acupuncture
(or 2000-3000 hours in Oriental Medicine)**
Oriental Medicine Acupuncture
Licensed Acupuncturist
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Comprehensively-trained Acupuncturist,
|
Typically, A Licensed
Acupuncturist (L.Ac.) or Registered Acupuncturist whose primary training is in Acupuncture and/or Oriental Medicine has:
a) obtained
a 3-4 year master's level degree or diploma from a school approved by ACAOM (Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture &
Oriental Medicine), and...
b) is awarded
the Dipl.Ac. (Diplomate in Acupuncture) designation upon successful examination by the NCCAOM (National Commission for the
Certification of Acupuncture & Oriental medicine) which is the national standard used for licensing in most states.**
Used for a broad rance of health issues,
including chronic disease, pain, internal medicine, rehabilitation, and prevention based on Oriental medical theory.
|
|
300 hours or less
Medical Acupuncture
Meridian Balancing Therapy
Chiropractic Acupuncture
Naturopathic Acupuncture
|
Typically a medical
doctor, osteopath, naturopath, or chiropractor who uses acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy; the World Health Organization
(WHO) recommends that medical doctors have 200 hours of training to know when to refer to a more fully-trained Acupuncturist
or Oriental Medicine practitioner.***
- Most commonly used for pain and basic ailments.
|
Around 100 hours or less
Medical
Acupuncture
Detox
Technician *
Chiropractic
Acupuncture
|
*Typically a detoxification technician or chiropractor
(detox techs. should be under supervision of a Licensed Acupuncturist, see above, and are limited to 5 points on the
ear.)
Most
commonly used for pain management or addiction & detoxification through auricular acupuncture.
|
For
a list of approved schools and colleges, contact the U.S. Department of Education or:
www.ccaom.org www.cnnaom.org www.acaom.org
*Many Acupuncture & Oriental
Medical schools exceed 2000 hours.
**Acupuncture/Oriental Medical
practitioners are able to obtain D.A.O.M or D.Ac. or Acupuncture Physician.
Licensed Acupunctures may have
also obtained an O.M.D., Ph.D., or D.Ac. for non-extensive post-graduate training (from unaccredited programs). Thus,
it is important to ask where such a title was received.
***Some medical doctors and
chiropractors are trained and licensed in both western and Oriental medical acupuncture. Ask your physician about his
or her credentials. Acupuncture should only be administered by a practitioner who has specific training in this field,
due to risk of improper needling, inadequate understanding of Oriental medical diagnostic procedures, transmission of disease,
imbalancing of energy, or ethical violations.
This document was produced by
the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM). For reprint information, contact 301-313-0870.
For information about the Council, please see their web site at: http://www.nccaom.org.
|
