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Can Acupuncturist be a PA?


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If you have the appropriate qualifications to get accepted to a PA school, anyone can attend/pass/practice.  Meet the HCE requirements (I don't think acupuncturist will count), grade requirements, GRE, courses, etc and it's absolutely possible.

Thank you for your reply. Why do you think acupuncture will not count as health care experience? 

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Thank you for your reply. Why do you think acupuncture will not count as health care experience? 

 

Just based on what programs typically list on their websites as accepted/approved healthcare.

 

Not trying to get into a debate on western medicine vs naturopathy, etc, but typically programs look for things like EMT, CNA, phlebotomy, nursing, RD, RT, etc - very standard 'healthcare'.  You can certainly reach out to programs and ask if they would accept it (or check websites) but I would be surprised if it was a widely accepted HCE/PCE.

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Just based on what programs typically list on their websites as accepted/approved healthcare.

 

Not trying to get into a debate on western medicine vs naturopathy, etc, but typically programs look for things like EMT, CNA, phlebotomy, nursing, RD, RT, etc - very standard 'healthcare'.  You can certainly reach out to programs and ask if they would accept it (or check websites) but I would be surprised if it was a widely accepted HCE/PCE.

 

Ok, I will send an e-mail to some schools to find out. 

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Hello,

I worked as an acupuncturist for 4 years, before applying to PA school and got accepted.  Graduated 2 years ago from PA school.  Now I work in pain management as a PA.  Having an acupuncture background helps with my current job in pain management. I now refer some of my patients for acupuncture treatment, especially community acupuncture for affordable acupuncture.  I would love to do acupuncture also in my current position, but the practice is not set up to see patients for acupuncture.  In 1-2 more years, after I have acquired more clinical skills as a PA, I hope to work part time as an acupuncturist, either independently, or under the supervision of an MD who is trained in medical acupuncture and does acupuncture in their practice.  I try to de-emphasize opioids and encourage my patients to explore multidisciplinary modalities, such as PT, massage, acupuncture, yoga, tai chi.  My background and experience in acupuncture enables me to educate my patients and introduce them to other pain management modalities beyond medications and interventional procedures.

 

When I applied to PA school, I was able to use my acupuncture clinical hours as work experience to meet the clinical hours requirement (minimum 2,000 hours) for my PA application for that particular PA school.  After all, as an acupuncturist, I was treating a lot of patients for musculoskeletal conditions, with the same SOAP documentation (onset of pain, duration, severity, alleviating/aggravating factors, etc), musculoskeletal physical exam, and at the time in 2006-10 with ICD 9 diagnoses (low back pain, sciatica, arthritis, etc).  I counseled the patients on stretching, exercise, etc.  

 

I think being both a PA and L.Ac. is a great combination.  There is a chiropractic and acupuncture school in Whittier, California that just started a PA program with an emphasis on integrative medicine.  I believe they just accepted their first class cohort. Here is their website:  http://www.scuhs.edu

 

Go for it and Good luck!  

Pangeabird, PA-C, L.Ac.

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Hello,

I worked as an acupuncturist for 4 years, before applying to PA school and got accepted.  Graduated 2 years ago from PA school.  Now I work in pain management as a PA.  Having an acupuncture background helps with my current job in pain management. I now refer some of my patients for acupuncture treatment, especially community acupuncture for affordable acupuncture.  I would love to do acupuncture also in my current position, but the practice is not set up to see patients for acupuncture.  In 1-2 more years, after I have acquired more clinical skills as a PA, I hope to work part time as an acupuncturist, either independently, or under the supervision of an MD who is trained in medical acupuncture and does acupuncture in their practice.  I try to de-emphasize opioids and encourage my patients to explore multidisciplinary modalities, such as PT, massage, acupuncture, yoga, tai chi.  My background and experience in acupuncture enables me to educate my patients and introduce them to other pain management modalities beyond medications and interventional procedures.

 

When I applied to PA school, I was able to use my acupuncture clinical hours as work experience to meet the clinical hours requirement (minimum 2,000 hours) for my PA application for that particular PA school.  After all, as an acupuncturist, I was treating a lot of patients for musculoskeletal conditions, with the same SOAP documentation (onset of pain, duration, severity, alleviating/aggravating factors, etc), musculoskeletal physical exam, and at the time in 2006-10 with ICD 9 diagnoses (low back pain, sciatica, arthritis, etc).  I counseled the patients on stretching, exercise, etc.  

 

I think being both a PA and L.Ac. is a great combination.  There is a chiropractic and acupuncture school in Whittier, California that just started a PA program with an emphasis on integrative medicine.  I believe they just accepted their first class cohort. Here is their website:  http://www.scuhs.edu

 

Go for it and Good luck!  

Pangeabird, PA-C, L.Ac.

Thank for sharing your experience. I got 7600 hours of acupuncture practicing and it will be sad if no school counted this as work experience. 

By the way, I did e-mail to 6 schools and 6 of them accept it as PCE but 2 of them said They prefered more like EMT CNA etc. and one of them give me a encourage like you did.  

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  • 6 months later...

IMO, HCE is more about being used to interacting with patients than about learning evidence based medicine. 

 

How much evidence based practice is emphasized as a phlebotomist or CNA but yet these two are widely accepted as HCE.

As an ED scribe, I never stopped learning new things even after a year of experience. Yet, scribing isn't universally regarded as adequate HCE because I never touched a patient.

 

You have plenty of time to learn "evidence based medicine" once you're in PA school.

 

Glad to hear 6/6 school accept it. Best of luck.

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