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