| #6 It's Interactive | | | | help or hinder their healing from an |
| | | | emotional and behavioral perspective. |
| Chinese Medicine students learn about how | | | | |
| every aspect of our lives (from bowel | | | | And vice versa, we can look at people's |
| movements to emotions) relate to one another. | | | | emotions and behavior and guess what kind of |
| We learn to relate to every kind of person. | | | | physical problems they might have. This makes |
| | | | for a quicker, more comprehensive medicine, |
| Patients Can Push Your Buttons | | | | and helps patients feel understood and |
| | | | confident in the care they receive. |
| Patients sometimes push our buttons, and this | | | | |
| give us the opportunity to interact with | | | | #10 It can be a Lucrative AND Altruistic |
| ourselves. This is not always easy. We don't | | | | Career |
| always like what we find! But if you commit | | | | |
| to growth through interaction, helping, and | | | | As former AMA president and Medscape CEO |
| self-examination, you can deactivate your | | | | George Lundberg, MD says, medicine walks a |
| buttons, grow past your limits, and increase | | | | thin line because: |
| your usefulness to others. | | | | |
| | | | * It is supposed to be altruistic (selflessly |
| More specifically: | | | | concerned for others), but |
| | | | |
| * Some students may realize they came to | | | | * It is also a business (and thus vulnerable |
| medicine for a selfish reason and decide to | | | | to selfish greed). |
| put helping others first. | | | | |
| | | | We could think of this as the yin and yang of |
| * Some students find they are people-pleasers | | | | the medical business. |
| and have to learn how to set boundaries and | | | | |
| be more assertive (not aggressive or | | | | Insurance Coverage for Acupuncture and Herbs |
| passive-aggressive!). | | | | |
| | | | Some alternative medicine practitioners are |
| * Others are more confrontational and | | | | happy to stay outside of the managed care |
| aggressive by nature and need to learn | | | | system. It's valuable enough to patients to |
| compassion and patience. | | | | pay out of their own pockets. Increasingly, |
| | | | acupuncture is covered by insurance, HMO's |
| * Some are analytical and live in their heads | | | | and worker's compensation boards... sometimes |
| - they need to learn to focus on their | | | | the full cost of the treatment is covered and |
| hearts, gaining rapport and loving their | | | | sometimes it isn't. Herbal medicine usually |
| patients. | | | | isn't covered... but patients are used to |
| | | | buying herbs and vitamins without |
| Letting Go of Bad Habits | | | | reimbursement. |
| | | | |
| Your bad habits are called into question. At | | | | Lundberg suggests that: |
| one point in my training, I went back to | | | | |
| smoking cigarettes. It was a guilt-laden 6 | | | | * Proven preventive care should be financed |
| weeks! It seemed hypocritical to want to be a | | | | by the government, |
| healer while destroying my health. And I felt | | | | |
| like I had to hide it. I quit to be a better | | | | * Proven catastrophic care covered by |
| example to my patients, and not to have to | | | | insurance, and |
| hide anything. | | | | |
| | | | * Everything else paid for out-of-pocket. |
| I also had to quit coffee. I knew from | | | | |
| chinese medicine that it wasn't helping me | | | | Grossing Gross Amounts of Money - Acupuncture |
| with my impatience and irritability. It was | | | | Salaries |
| worsening my liver qi stagnation! I had to | | | | |
| give it up and take herbs instead. I had to | | | | Regardless of who pays, acupuncturists can |
| practice what I preach. | | | | expect an annual gross salary of between |
| | | | $40,000 and$1,000,000. I just heard about a |
| When you know something is bad, it seems like | | | | hospital position for an acupuncturist in |
| fun to do it anyway (it gives you the | | | | Iowa that was paying $159 per hour (their |
| illusion of power and control). But | | | | medical doctor rate). |
| eventually you give in to the wisdom, do what | | | | |
| is right, and get to feel even better. Then | | | | My wife made $100,000 her first year out of |
| you can help others with the same struggle. | | | | school. One acupuncturist here in San Diego |
| | | | grosses near $1,000,000 annually with |
| Your Victory can lead to their Victory | | | | worker's compensation cases only. |
| | | | |
| Occasionally, your own personal growth and | | | | Right now in California, work-comp reimburses |
| commitment to self-examination helps your | | | | $120 per acupuncture treatment. Some |
| patients directly. At one point, I saw a | | | | acupuncturists see 4 patients per hour... |
| woman with fears of abandonment. I had just | | | | |
| discovered and confronted my own similar | | | | Let's do some quick math on an example. If |
| fears 6 months before. She was able to feel | | | | you averaged $80 per treatment (which is |
| understood and heard and I was able to offer | | | | achievable), saw 2 patients per hour, and |
| her solutions, strength, and hope. | | | | worked 8 hours per day, 4 days per week |
| | | | (leaving a day or two to do paperwork), 48 |
| In this way, we are trailblazers- pioneers in | | | | weeks per year you could gross $245,760. If |
| growth. If we remain shallow, so will our | | | | you spend 40% of your gross on overhead, you |
| healing interactions. If we grow deeper, we | | | | earn $147,456 before taxes. |
| can lead people to greater healing. | | | | |
| | | | What Makes for Making Money |
| #7 It Benefits YOU Too! | | | | |
| | | | How much you earn depends, as in all |
| As was just explained, by helping others you | | | | businesses, upon your resourcefulness, |
| get to grow too. | | | | initiative, marketing savvy, and - most |
| | | | importantly - the quality of your service. As |
| Save on Health Care Costs | | | | in all service businesses, you must be good |
| | | | at what you do. |
| By giving yourself the know-how and resources | | | | |
| to keep yourself, your friends, and your | | | | The Freedom to Give |
| family well, you can save money. One | | | | |
| acupuncturist said on an email list that it | | | | Making all that money frees us to be |
| saved her family tens of thousands of dollars | | | | altruistic. A lot of volunteer care is given |
| in medical costs. It can be practiced | | | | by acupuncturists. During "9/11,", New York |
| inexpensively - for many years it treated | | | | students from the Pacific Institute of |
| millions of poor peasants in China who had no | | | | Chinese Medicine treated the firefighters. |
| access to western medicine. Chinese Medicine | | | | Likewise, students in San Diego from the |
| may be a large part of the solution to our | | | | Pacific College of Chinese Medicine treat |
| healthcare crisis. | | | | Viet Nam veterans every year at a special |
| | | | gathering. Of dozens of services, the |
| Professional Courtesy | | | | acupuncture is among the top 3 requested. You |
| | | | can take on a number of low or no-fee cases |
| Some acupuncturists trade treatments with one | | | | in your own practice. It's up to you. |
| another to stay in good health. I've received | | | | |
| hundreds of treatments from fellow students, | | | | #11 - There are so many options |
| practitioners, and my wife! It's helped me | | | | |
| with anger, irritability, migraines, light | | | | It's a varied profession. |
| sensitivity, fear, over-thinking, colds and | | | | |
| flus, and cold sores, among other things. | | | | In California, acupuncturists are physicians |
| | | | and can be a patient's primary care |
| #8 It's Traditional and Ancient | | | | practitioner - they are professionals on par |
| | | | with MD's, chiropractors, and psychologists. |
| It's natural for us to look for reassurance, | | | | As an acupuncturist... |
| especially in dealing with our health. | | | | |
| Biomedicine reassures by requiring studies of | | | | * You could work with an MD, DO, DC, |
| treatments for safety. Chinese medicine has | | | | psychologist, psychiatrist, or massage |
| been tested for safety and efficacy | | | | therapist. |
| (especially acupuncture), and it has | | | | |
| thousands of years of experience behind it to | | | | * You can work in a high-class office wearing |
| show what happens to the people it treats. It | | | | a suit. You could practice at home wearing |
| is inarguably a positive influence in our | | | | your slippers. |
| world. Biomedicine, on the other hand, is | | | | |
| only 50 years old, and the full scope of the | | | | * You could do all acupuncture, or all herbs, |
| side effect phenomenon (short and long-term) | | | | or both. |
| has yet to be grasped. | | | | |
| | | | * You could treat just sports injuries, or |
| Not every chinese remedy has been through the | | | | workers compensation, or acupuncture |
| full rigors of the Randomized Controlled | | | | face-lifts, or gynecology, or psychiatry, or |
| Trial (biomedicine's gold-standard), but | | | | do it all! |
| neither have all of the standard biomedical | | | | |
| treatments. The millions of hours and patient | | | | * There is room for new schools all over the |
| visits through hundreds of years establish | | | | U.S. - there are still states without any |
| traditional chinese treatments as safe and | | | | Chinese Medicine schools. |
| effective. More and more studies are being | | | | |
| done to confirm them and understand how they | | | | * You could practice in California (where 1/3 |
| work in biomedical terms. I have written | | | | of us practice), or you could have an |
| extensively on acupuncture safety and how it | | | | 'insta-practice' in many places all over the |
| works here. | | | | U.S. that don't have access to Chinese |
| | | | Medicine. |
| #9 Its Theories have Broad Implications | | | | |
| | | | * You could teach or be a clinic supervisor |
| Since it integrates many different | | | | at an established school. |
| disciplines and realms, CM concepts could be | | | | |
| used to reorganize and give insight to | | | | * You could see loads of patients, or spend 2 |
| psychology and psychiatry, pharmaceutical | | | | hours with each one. One herbalist in China |
| medicine, and sociology. These insights could | | | | sees 80 patients per day. You have to be good |
| guide and suggest future research in all | | | | to get herbs right- to get them right and see |
| fields. | | | | that many patients per day, you have to be |
| | | | stellar! |
| The 16 types of the Meyers Briggs personality | | | | |
| typing system have been somewhat integrated | | | | * You could create a business selling |
| with the 5 constitutions and 6 temperaments | | | | products to the 20,000 or so acupuncturists |
| of Chinese Medicine (read about that). This | | | | in the U.S. (even more internationally). |
| yields a mind-body medicine that integrates | | | | |
| personality and physical disease. | | | | * You can write books and teach continuing |
| | | | education seminars. |
| From the patient's symptoms, we can | | | | |
| understand their personality and what might | | | | There are so many options! |