Acupuncture in Hospitals

Synergy Doesn't Happen in Silos: Acupuncture in Hospitals and Other Healthcare Settings

By Beth Sommers, PhD, MPH, LAc and Kristen Porter, MS, MAc, LAc

As acupuncture and traditional East Asian medicine continue to intersect and integrate with biomedical approaches, the conversation about integration expands and becomes richer. One forum for these conversations is the Academic Consortium of Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC).

ACCAHC, founded in 2004, envisions and is involved in co-creating a system of health care that is multidisciplinary and dedicated to health and healing. Based on mutual respect among all providers, ACCAHC works toward creating an environment of collaboration that is based on patient-centered care.

ACCAHC's mission is to enhance the health of individuals and communities. Valuing diversity of practice, institutional members include the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM), the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), and the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), as well as 14 other educational, accrediting, and testing bodies associated with Ayurvedic medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, massage, midwifery, naturopathic medicine, and yoga. Working groups within ACCAHC include members focused on clinical care, education, research and policy.

ACCAHC's strong commitment to professional education has been reflected in many of its projects, including a recent webinar on the role of integrative health in influencing patient outcome and experiencecalled the Power of Choice in Patient Experience Improvement: The Critical Role for Integrative Health.

[images 1 r]John Weeks, Executive Director of ACCAHC and publishing editor of the Integrator Blog, is a strong proponent of patient-centered care. He notes that much of what is called health care in this country is actually "a medical industry which unfortunately thrives on disease." Because of his concern about health professionals working in silos, without communication or collaboration, Weeks is gratified to witness the increasing level of integration that acupuncture has achieved in the hospital environment, particularly in the Veterans Administration system with which he shared various ACCAHC resources on acupuncture and other disciplines when he was invited to advise in 2014.

Weeks' spoke about "active diplomacy" on the part of acupuncturists and other integrative health care providers as we play more visible roles in hospitals and other community health settings. He stated that because acupuncturists are "part of a team approach to care, acupuncturists bring a unique perspective to patient care, one that, to be most effective, must be both grounded in modern day biomedical research and evaluation as well as in the ‘evidence of the old masters.'"

In 2007, Weeks and colleagues produced a document entitled "Survey of MDs/Administrators of Integrative Clinics to Gather Information on Competencies of Licensed Acupuncturists for Practice in Hospitals, Integrated Centers and Other Conventional Healthcare Settings." This document was produced by the National Education Dialogue to Advance Integrated Health Care and ACCAHC for the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium and sponsored by NCCAOM. Surveys were completed by ten respondents (nine MDs and one RN). The core themes related to determining appropriate competencies for acupuncturists identified by the survey were: 

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