Career Opportunities: Acupuncture Therapy Practice in Hospitals

As acupuncture becomes increasingly integrated into hospital health care, opportunities for natural medicine wellness programs are developing, expanding patient access to holistic treatment options.
Nearly 27 percent of hospitals offer acupuncture and other complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. CAM health care may include: Acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy.
Acupuncture is often practiced in allopathic hospitals in conjunction with conventional care therapies. Acupuncture physicians can treat and manage cases ranging from upper respiratory tract infections and postoperative and chemotherapy nausea to headaches, orthopedic and other medical conditions.
Patients who choose to receive acupuncture often believe that acupuncture combined with conventional medical treatment is more effective in resolving their health care condition.
Acupuncture can also speed recovery from surgery or illness.
As hospitals increase CAM programs, patients who choose to integrate CAM therapies into their health care consistently rate their experiences more positively than patients receiving only allopathic health care.
Integration of allopathic and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practice can positively impact patient quality of care. This approach to patient care has great potential to improve the hospital care system.
As the medical community increasingly recognizes its benefits, and as more insurance companies include it in their plans, CAM hospital health care programs will become a more common component of wellness practice.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one of the fastest growing health care professions in the United States today. Acupuncture & Massage College’s Oriental Medicine program trains students to enable them to practice as primary, integrative and complementary health care providers. Students complete courses in Chinese medicine, acupuncture, herbology, Tui Na, and Qi Gong.
Employment in the alternative therapy and non-mainstream medicine fields (which includes acupuncture, podiatry, chiropractic, and more) is expected to increase by 48.8 percent from 2002-2012.
For information about Acupuncture & Massage College’s Oriental Medicine and Massage Therapy programs call Joe Calareso, Admissions Director, at (305) 595-9500.