Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Clinical Education
"Excellent teachers and practitioners, exposure to rare formulas and classical formulas specific to disciplines, treatment principles for critical cases – all this increased my skill in the medicine exceptionally." — Debra Rusenko, MS, LAc
Becoming an effective practitioner of acupuncture and Oriental medicine (AOM) involves close mentoring and instruction by experienced and knowledgeable faculty members in a variety of patient care settings.
Consistency and Quality in Training In order to guarantee the highest consistency in quality education for its students, the AOM clinical program focuses the majority of clinic shifts in the university's teaching clinic, Bastyr Center for Natural Health (BCNH). Bastyr's acupuncture program is science-based, training students to be highly qualified acupuncturists and traditional Chinese herbalists. In this clinical setting, students learn to apply the ancient art of Chinese medicine along with their knowledge of Western medicine to improve the health and well-being of their patients.
The acupuncture program trains its students to the highest standards, surpassing the requirements of Washington and California state licensure (the states with the highest standards for licensure). Additionally, the acupuncture program enjoys the benefit of a highly qualified faculty, many of whom were trained in China as medical doctors. Many faculty members both teach on the university campus and supervise shifts in the clinic, creating continuity for student application of didactic knowledge.
Diverse Patient Population Within BCNH, there are several different types of shifts available to students, including general acupuncture shifts and a specialty acupuncture shift for immuno-compromised individuals, primarily HIV+ individuals. For acupuncture students also enrolled in the Chinese herbal medicine certificate program, there are a number of Chinese herbal medicine shifts. Integrated acupuncture and naturopathic medicine shifts are available for those students enrolled in both programs. Also on-site, the acupuncture and Oriental medicine clinic library contains classic texts along with current references and journals.
Patient Contacts/Training Hours
BCNH brings in an average of 35,000 patient contacts yearly.
Average annual increase of 19% in patient visits over 10 years.
Each student averages close to 500 patient contacts during the course of training. (A minimum of 400 patient contacts with 100 different patients is required to graduate. The Bastyr ratio exceeds that of most other AOM schools.)
Current average of 28.3 patient contacts per shift per student (shift = one four-hour block /week for 11 weeks).
44 preceptor hours for each student.
Clinic training hours vary depending on the degree program in which the student is enrolled: 1,232 total clinical training hours for the master of science in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, 836 hours for the master of science in acupuncture.
Beyond BCNH All students also participate in patient shifts at community clinics in Seattle and, at the conclusion of their regular program, have the unique opportunity to study acupuncture and/or Chinese herbal medicine at one or two respected universities of traditional Chinese medicine in China.
Through its external learning sites, Bastyr University joins with community clinics in the Seattle area to provide affordable health care to diverse populations, including seniors, low income and multi-ethnic patients, HIV/AIDS sufferers and those with chronic diseases. Supervised by Bastyr clinical faculty, students benefit from interactions with patients from varied backgrounds and treatment of illnesses and conditions not always seen at BCNH. Participation in external shifts also helps students to network with other health care professionals, build relationships and gain community work experience that serves them wherever they settle after graduation. See a list of external training sites.
The China Internship Through the China internship, third-year and fourth-year graduate students may elect for-credit placements at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine or Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Both schools are top TCM universities in China and have foreign language departments equipped to train TCM students from all over the world. Under the supervision of highly experienced Chinese physicians, students observe the treatment of patients with a variety of concerns. The hospital caseloads often surprise students – often doctors see 30 patients in a single morning! The intensive also provides the opportunity to study Chinese herbs more extensively than is currently possible in the United States.
"The experience in China was irreplaceable. I felt very fortunate to have studied with doctors in a specialized field, some of whom have been practicing for 30 years and were instructors for Bastyr's own faculty members."
— Kyo Mitchell, MS, LAc, clinical faculty member and former resident who now leads trips to China
