acupuncture school then medical school
Started by esca007
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I was thinking the same thing - we already have a basic training in western but to combine it with eastern would be best. I'm glad I started with TCM and not with med school. doctors who do it the other way around never really get a grasp on TCM.
I was on a pre-med tour at UT- San Antonio last year and on their student panel they had a guy that spent something like 5 years as a practicing accupuncturist. I remember he was mid-20-30, from El Paso, and was a MSIII at the time. He said he was doing well, and although he said it often came up in interviews, he was surprised by the positive response he got.
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This is a cool thread...
I am an oriental medicine practitioner practicing acupuncture and herbal therapy. I am applying to med school hopefully gain training in western medicine and to be involved with integrative medicine, incorporating both eastern and western modalities. For example, instead of prescribing ibuprofen to patients with pain, i can do acupuncture and prescribe herbs, and the results can be immediate.
I have a Masters in oriental medicine (MSOM), some people will state that they have a Doctor of Oriental Medicine (DOM). This was given to graduates in the US when the acupuncture profession really wasnt all that regulated, but some professional acpuncturists still use the DOM title after their name.
To get a master's, it takes 4 years. 3 years of classes, 1.5-2 yrs of clinical work depending on the school. Some classes are pretty interesting, others are completely meaningless. The school that i went to had doctors from China and Korea teaching our fundamental classes. The cost is not cheap either (around $20-30k a year depending on school). In asia, particularly in korea and china, it takes 6+ years, but you are recognized as a doctor.
It is definitely true that doctors have a hard time grasping oriental medicine after western medicine training. There is an influx of western doctors getting certified in acupuncture with a certification course which lasts like at the most 6 months. One prominent program is UCLA. Basically, the training is inadequate. Recently, chiropractors are doing the same thing by taking crash courses on acupuncture. Again, their training is also inadequate.
Yeah i am kinda anxious on what kind of questions i will be asked in the interviews, but it should be a lot of fun. Certainly my experiences in health care are dramatically different than 99% of the application pool. I am very sure that their are a handful of acupuncture practitioners that are currently in med school in the US. I wonder what kind of interview questions they got and whether med schools were receptive to alternative medicine.
I am an oriental medicine practitioner practicing acupuncture and herbal therapy. I am applying to med school hopefully gain training in western medicine and to be involved with integrative medicine, incorporating both eastern and western modalities. For example, instead of prescribing ibuprofen to patients with pain, i can do acupuncture and prescribe herbs, and the results can be immediate.
I have a Masters in oriental medicine (MSOM), some people will state that they have a Doctor of Oriental Medicine (DOM). This was given to graduates in the US when the acupuncture profession really wasnt all that regulated, but some professional acpuncturists still use the DOM title after their name.
To get a master's, it takes 4 years. 3 years of classes, 1.5-2 yrs of clinical work depending on the school. Some classes are pretty interesting, others are completely meaningless. The school that i went to had doctors from China and Korea teaching our fundamental classes. The cost is not cheap either (around $20-30k a year depending on school). In asia, particularly in korea and china, it takes 6+ years, but you are recognized as a doctor.
It is definitely true that doctors have a hard time grasping oriental medicine after western medicine training. There is an influx of western doctors getting certified in acupuncture with a certification course which lasts like at the most 6 months. One prominent program is UCLA. Basically, the training is inadequate. Recently, chiropractors are doing the same thing by taking crash courses on acupuncture. Again, their training is also inadequate.
Yeah i am kinda anxious on what kind of questions i will be asked in the interviews, but it should be a lot of fun. Certainly my experiences in health care are dramatically different than 99% of the application pool. I am very sure that their are a handful of acupuncture practitioners that are currently in med school in the US. I wonder what kind of interview questions they got and whether med schools were receptive to alternative medicine.
I have been an LaC for 2.5 years!
The title OMD is given to doctors of oriental medicine in places like Korea and China. The administrators who began establishing oriental medicine schools here in the US in the late 70s and early 80s thought it would be fine to give the same title to its graduates. However, this practice completely changed. I dont know exactly who told the schools that they cannot offer a doctoral degree, but the schools agreed to change the degree title given to the graduates from a OMD to a MSOM degree (masters of oriental medicine).
The title LaC is not given to licensed practitioners in asia. Oriental Medicine practitioners are physicians in Asia with full capabilities to diagnose patients using blood tests, MRIs, etc. In the US, anyone who is a LaC has either a MSOM or an OMD, the latter was conferred upon them from a school a long time ago when there were no regulations. The MSOM training and the OMD training in the US is extremely similar. Basically, the only OMDs that are reputable are the ones who went to oriental medicine schools in Asia.
The title OMD is given to doctors of oriental medicine in places like Korea and China. The administrators who began establishing oriental medicine schools here in the US in the late 70s and early 80s thought it would be fine to give the same title to its graduates. However, this practice completely changed. I dont know exactly who told the schools that they cannot offer a doctoral degree, but the schools agreed to change the degree title given to the graduates from a OMD to a MSOM degree (masters of oriental medicine).
The title LaC is not given to licensed practitioners in asia. Oriental Medicine practitioners are physicians in Asia with full capabilities to diagnose patients using blood tests, MRIs, etc. In the US, anyone who is a LaC has either a MSOM or an OMD, the latter was conferred upon them from a school a long time ago when there were no regulations. The MSOM training and the OMD training in the US is extremely similar. Basically, the only OMDs that are reputable are the ones who went to oriental medicine schools in Asia.
I'm at UNC and we have a doctor trained in both fields, MD in family medicine, and then in accupuncture as well. He works in our integrative medicine and pain clinic..what a neat job! he gets to see everything and everybody and try to help them. 🙂
esca007 said:
I am a first year student at NYCOM and yes I obtained a graduate degree in Oriental Medicine and had been in practice as a licensed acupuncturist for 3+ years before deciding to go back to school. I beleive my previous clinical experience helped me stand out amongst the application pool so anyone thinking about going to med school, use that as your selling point.
spundit, where are you applying?
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