| |
Practice Building
Continuing Ed
Pacific Symposium
Additional CEU Events
CEU Tapes
Alumni events
Alumni Profiles
Oriental
Medicine News
Update Your Info
Alumni Email List
Request Records
Download Graduate Exit Interview
Alumni
Minutes
Classifieds
Jobs
Opportunities
Office Space
For Sale
Contact
Us
Search
This Site
Site
Map
Links
|
 |
|
Take Your Career to the Next Level with Doctoral Training: A letter from Jack Miller, L.Ac., chair of the Doctoral Committee of the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM)
As chair of the Doctoral Committee of the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM), I was privileged to coordinate the cooperative efforts of college administrators, practitioners and scholars as we developed, debated and refined what eventually led to the Council's doctoral proposal to the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM). The Doctoral Committee envisioned colleges developing programs that would utilize regional resources and reflect institutional strengths and interests. They would attract uniquely
qualified students who share those interests. The similarity and familiarity of our master's programs would be the foundation for something new and different at each institution accepting the challenge of doctoral training. These were not to be one-size-fits-all programs, but rather unique opportunities from which each student would choose the best fit for his or her ultimate academic endeavor. The final ACAOM standards respect and maintain this vision.
With the approval by ACAOM of Pacific College's doctoral degree program, both the college and the profession enter a new phase in their evolution. For too long, our colleges' creativity has been constrained by prescriptive state and national requirements. For too long, our students' minds have labored to meet the narrow demands of licensing exams. While they serve a function, we can now proudly say that our profession has passed these tests! It is time to free our
minds to seek the future of Oriental medicine in America. If the politicians, both within and outside our profession, allow the originally envisioned freedom and flexibility to survive, our profession's creativity will flourish. Specialization, translation, research, and skilled faculty will abound. This is an exciting time, and what promises to be second renaissance for Oriental medicine in the United States.
Pacific College has looked forward to this adventure for over a decade. Since the doctorate is not required for licensure to practice in any state, it is particularly rewarding to experience a curriculum and student body that are, for lack of a better term, entirely voluntary. That is, students will participate, not to gain entrance to a profession, but to become its leaders. While we don't know who they are yet, we know what they are and what they will become. They are individuals for whom the unknown is a worthy challenge and for whom achievement is a way of life. They will become the speakers at our conferences, the authors of our textbooks, and the teachers of our students. They will continue to heal their patients. They will answer the questions how and why does Oriental medicine work. Then they'll ask, how do we make it work better? The question we have is, is this you? If so, Pacific College is a community waiting for you to arrive.
For those students who have already made the choice to take their career in Oriental medicine to the next step, a program full of new possibilities awaits them. To prepare doctoral students for the leadership roles they will fill in our profession, they participate in a series of courses in five tracks. Within these courses of study, students study the integrative medicine subjects of pediatrics, geriatrics, women's health, neuromuscular medicine, geriatrics or
mental health. These subjects are part of the broader courses of Chinese medical classics, Chinese language, research and clinical studies.
Keeping in mind the goal of integrating Eastern and Western medicine, the assimilation of these two disciplines is particularly emphasized in clinical training. Doctoral clinical training uses a team approach to patient treatment - a licensed acupuncturist recognized as an expert in the integrative medicine subject being studied, a licensed
acupuncturist recognized as an expert in the Chinese classical text being studied, and a biomedical health care provider are all present during doctoral clinical shifts. With recognized experts, doctoral students will be able to consider every aspect of Eastern and Western medicine for each patient they see.
While keeping an eye on the future of Oriental medicine, the doctoral program also pays important attention to the past. Doctoral students are trained in the application of Chinese classical texts, giving them an important base for the theories and practices they will explore. Students will understand the foundations of Oriental medicine from its origins so that they can apply that knowledge to medical innovations being made today.
The doctoral program at Pacific College is not just an extension of the master's degree. Rather, the doctoral program presents a new level in all aspects of medicine. Students will study an integrated approach to neuromuscular medicine, pediatrics, women's health, mental health and geriatrics. They will study the Nei Jing, Shang Han Lun, Jin Gui Yao Lue and Wen Bing. Not only will doctoral students study the classics by way of translation, but gradually, the doctoral
students' Chinese language studies will provide direct access to those original texts. Doctoral students will also apply their research skills to a significant capstone project that will advance the knowledge base of our profession. This is a bright time for our profession. I look forward to watching it unfold.
If you have any questions about Pacific's doctoral program, please call (800) 729-0941.
|
|
