A Question of Priority

January 15, 2002

, " pemachophel2001 "

<pemachophel2001> wrote:

Perhaps more people will be prodded into learning some medical

Chinese when someone is sued for negligence for practicing Chinese

medicine while being ignorant of the literature. I have been told

that one can be sued for negligence as a doctor if one does not keep

up with the most important journals. For instance, if you're hauled

into court for using a treatment method that others have found fault

with, you can't use as your excuse the fact that you didn't read the

article in which that treatment was criticized. In other words,

courts assume that being professional means reading the contemporary

professional literature. Since, as it has been pointed out, that

literature is almost entirely in one or more Far East Asian

languages, not being able to read any of those languages might very

> well be considered negligent in its legal sense. To make this

> hypothesis more interesting, also consider that it is an insurance

> statistic that doctors are sued on an average of once every seven

> years. You could say it's only a matter of time.

Bob:

In light of this, it seems even more imperative to make sure

practitioners are reading the already translated materials now

available. If your online journal is only read by 1,300 and your

(and other publishers') sales are meager compared to the total,

potential market, perhaps learning a new language---although

necessary and important---isn't what the profession should focus on

immediately.

If learning the Chinese language is a long-term goal, what about

incorporating the current, translated literature into classes?

There's no reason publishers shouldn't include the Chinese---if

their sales justify it and reading Chinese is a high priority. If

you can require students to learn the Chinese language so that they

can translate it themselves, why not require them to purchase and

review the current translations?

How many CM schools (not Western MDs) incorporate Blue Poppy titles

into their classes? How many titles are a regular part of the

curriculum?

How many schools use Soilie de Morant for point theory? Or Deadman's

Manual of Acupuncture? If a student graduates but hasn't read at

least 20 titles not on the required list what are their chances of

being proficient? Or motivated to learn another langauge?

Of course, we could do both at the same time. Just a thought.

Jim Ramholz

January 15, 2002

, " jramholz " <jramholz> wrote:

> , " pemachophel2001 "

> <pemachophel2001> wrote:

> Perhaps more people will be prodded into learning some medical

> Chinese when someone is sued for negligence for practicing Chinese

> medicine while being ignorant of the literature. I have been told

> that one can be sued for negligence as a doctor if one does not keep

> up with the most important journals. For instance, if you're hauled

> into court for using a treatment method that others have found fault

> with, you can't use as your excuse the fact that you didn't read the

> article in which that treatment was criticized. In other words,

> courts assume that being professional means reading the contemporary

> professional literature. Since, as it has been pointed out, that

> literature is almost entirely in one or more Far East Asian

> languages, not being able to read any of those languages might very

> > well be considered negligent in its legal sense. To make this

> > hypothesis more interesting, also consider that it is an insurance

> > statistic that doctors are sued on an average of once every seven

> > years. You could say it's only a matter of time.

>

> Bob:

>

> In light of this, it seems even more imperative to make sure

> practitioners are reading the already translated materials now

> available. If your online journal is only read by 1,300 and your

> (and other publishers') sales are meager compared to the total,

> potential market, perhaps learning a new language---although

> necessary and important---isn't what the profession should focus on

> immediately.

-- Good point. I guess I was taking as an unspoken assumption that,

of course, people would be reading the English language literature. My

point was that the English language literature is miniscule compared

to the Asian language literature. But you're right, many people are

not even reading the English language literature that currently

exists. There are a number of reasons for this, but the probelm as I

see it goes back to the schools and they way they are staffed,

administered, organized, and oriented (no pun intended).

>

> If learning the Chinese language is a long-term goal, what about

> incorporating the current, translated literature into classes?

> There's no reason publishers shouldn't include the Chinese---if

> their sales justify it and reading Chinese is a high priority. If

> you can require students to learn the Chinese language so that they

> can translate it themselves, why not require them to purchase and

> review the current translations?

>

> How many CM schools (not Western MDs) incorporate Blue Poppy titles

> into their classes? How many titles are a regular part of the

> curriculum?

-- A handful of schools (3-4) use our Handbook of TCM Patterns & Their

Treatments as a required text. A fair number use our Secret of Chinese

Pulse Diagnosis. A few use selected of our other books. It's hard to

say exactly what the numbers are because some of the schools which use

our books don't buy them directly from us. However, BPP does not

publish a single book that is considered an industry-wide standard,

such as Eastland's two materia medica and formulas books or Giovanni's

Foundation and Practice books. We are trying to remedy that situation

with a big promotional campaign for our new Treatment of Modern

Western Medical Diseases book. I've already said something about the

poor sales of our Great Masters Series.

>

> How many schools use Soilie de Morant for point theory? Or Deadman's

> Manual of Acupuncture? If a student graduates but hasn't read at

> least 20 titles not on the required list what are their chances of

> being proficient? Or motivated to learn another langauge?

>

> Of course, we could do both at the same time. Just a thought.

>

> Jim Ramholz

I would say we should be doing both. Just a more complete reading of

the available English language literature would be a good beginning,

but, from my experience, is not really enough. Beyond the issue of

simple quantity, there is a qaulitative difference in learning this

stuff in its orginal language. However, I think there's already been

enough said about that. People on this list either get that by now or

not and probably never will.

Bob

January 15, 2002

----- Original MessageHow many schools use Soilie de Morant for point theory? Or Deadman's Manual of Acupuncture? If a student graduates but hasn't read at least 20 titles not on the required list what are their chances of being proficient? Or motivated to learn another langauge?

>>>>What is requiered at scools these days

Alon

-----

jramholz

Tuesday, January 15, 2002 4:15 PM

A Question of Priority

, "pemachophel2001" <pemachophel2001> wrote:Perhaps more people will be prodded into learning some medical Chinese when someone is sued for negligence for practicing Chinese medicine while being ignorant of the literature. I have been told that one can be sued for negligence as a doctor if one does not keep up with the most important journals. For instance, if you're hauled into court for using a treatment method that others have found fault with, you can't use as your excuse the fact that you didn't read the article in which that treatment was criticized. In other words, courts assume that being professional means reading the contemporary professional literature. Since, as it has been pointed out, that literature is almost entirely in one or more Far East Asian languages, not being able to read any of those languages might very > well be considered negligent in its legal sense. To make this > hypothesis more interesting, also consider that it is an insurance > statistic that doctors are sued on an average of once every seven > years. You could say it's only a matter of time.Bob:In light of this, it seems even more imperative to make sure practitioners are reading the already translated materials now available. If your online journal is only read by 1,300 and your (and other publishers') sales are meager compared to the total, potential market, perhaps learning a new language---although necessary and important---isn't what the profession should focus on immediately.If learning the Chinese language is a long-term goal, what about incorporating the current, translated literature into classes? There's no reason publishers shouldn't include the Chinese---if their sales justify it and reading Chinese is a high priority. If you can require students to learn the Chinese language so that they can translate it themselves, why not require them to purchase and review the current translations?How many CM schools (not Western MDs) incorporate Blue Poppy titles into their classes? How many titles are a regular part of the curriculum? How many schools use Soilie de Morant for point theory? Or Deadman's Manual of Acupuncture? If a student graduates but hasn't read at least 20 titles not on the required list what are their chances of being proficient? Or motivated to learn another langauge?Of course, we could do both at the same time. Just a thought.Jim RamholzChinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education.