why acupuncturist don't make it

January 6, 2007

I thought I would write about the profession as I see it up here in British

Columbia,

Canada.

BC has probably the highest standards around in terms of its registeration and

licensing

procedures. We have to go through three grooling provincial exams, with a

practical exam

attached to it, to reach the final title of Doctor of TCM. This is a total of 6

days of testing

spread out over a couple years. Obviously not many make it this far. I myself

am only at

the second stage, which is a Practitioner of Tradtional .

There are quite a few schools in our province and at times are in competition

with

eachother. The problem I see here is that the schools are signing up students so

easily and

then making the learning so easy. I have heard that in regular WM schools the

first couple

years are brutal so as to wiene out the weaklings and only the strong survive.

Not so in the

two different TCM schools that I attended over a five year period. It was hardly

a chalenge.

Although some people did fail, many make it through who shouldn't. Then the

provincial

exams come and many don't make it past these. They spend thousands of dollars

getting

to this point only to discover that they can not get a license.

Then many people do get a lisence and are left on there own to practice in a

pretty

swamped profession. In BC I think that there are around 1500 registered

acupuncurists,

where as there is only 850 chiropractors and 250 natural paths. Pretty hard to

make it if

one does not have the proper business skills.

This is where the new trend is taking place and people are making it,

specialization. This

march I will be starting to work in a clinic in Vancouver (I am leaving my

Little Island

paradise) to work at Lorne Brown's Acubalance. A clinic fully dedicated to the

TCM

treatment of reproductive health. There are at times over 250 people going

through this

clinic, all because of education and narrowing the focus so that the general

public could

see them and connect with the practise.

Many practitioners of CM that I know of, including some of my western trained

teachers of

CM, easily give up on the tougher cases. One example I can think of is a

colleages

treatment of excema with CM that did not work. After only a couple weeks of

treatment

he was recomending the patient to see a homeopathic doctor! If CM is going to

make it in

the west we have to be brave enough to accept the chalenging cases and refer

them off to

other CHINESE MEDICAL practitioner SPECIALISTS who are competent in the areas

that they

work, so that the public can still see the great scope of our practice and our

successes.

Trevor , wrote:

>

> Mark

>

> I hope people will toot their own horns here is they have anything to toot.

However, I

have to admit that it is my intent to dissuade people from making what I

consider to be

the worst mistake of my entire life. Maybe you are right about the failures

making the

most noise. Or maybe its that certain people are just not cut out for practice

(I admit that

is true about me). We need to know what type of people succeed and why before

people

who are destined to fail waste their time and money. I think it is just as

likely that you

hang out with a group of successful practitioners who do not represent the

majority as the

converse (us naysaying failures hanging out together as well). However, I do

have to

reiterate that my assessment is not based solely on my own experience (everyone

on this

list knows what I think of personal anecdotes), but rather the reports to me by

well over a

100 of my former students. If I have students out there who are doing quite well

and

keeping it to themselves

> , please let me know so I can reassess this matter. FYI, Lisa Rohleder was in

acupuncture

school at OCOM when I ran their pharmacy and taught a few classes soon after I

had

graduated in the mid-'90s. She is apparently quite successful, yet she has also

been very

vocal on the same point I have made here. I have no idea where she gets her data

from,

but she repeatedly has stated in her column in AT that 50% are not making ends

meet

after 5 years in the profession. I am actually surprised AT would let such a

statement be

printed over and over again if there was not some truth in it. The owners of AT

have a

vested interest in the field being a thriving one. Apparently, they are so

concerned that it

is not that they allow Lisa to rail on about this issue month after month.

>

> >

> > What drove me to type this quick letter, is that these sorts of online

> > discussion tend to develop a life of their own. The long term success of our

> > field depends on the ability to attract smart, charismatic people who can

> > simultaneously build a build their own business. If those who are

> > considering entering the field do research and discover the the thread which

> > precedes this letter it may dissuade them from entering our profession. More

> > the shame for all of us.

>

January 6, 2007

Z'ev,

As a relatively new practitioner, who is working in a saturated market,

I have to say I appreciate Todd's honesty. Frankly I wish I had seen

more discussion of this when I first started school. Between the time I

first applied and graduated, wages for non-entrepreneurial

acupuncturists fell by half and the number of schools pouring out

graduates increased. And the tuition money I set aside before starting

never matched the significant climb in tuition so I ended up with more

debt than I anticipated. Despite compiling an inventory of equipment

and some useful sidelines while I was in school and taking Honora's

course, I found that I was unprepared to compete.

I do think it important to make clear at the very beginning that

students should be prepared to be entrepreneurial, to have sidelines to

support the business during downtimes, to budget and to effectively

generate new business. If it discourages some students, all the better

since they will know before they are deep in debt, having lost four

years of potential wages based on inaccurate assumptions. It would

not have prevented me from enrolling because I was called to the

profession, but I also attended with students who were enrolled in

anticipation of a more lucrative profession than it turns out to be.

--

Karen Vaughan, MSTOM

Licensed Acupuncturist, and Herbalist

253 Garfield Place

Brooklyn, NY 11215

(718) 622-6755

Co-Conspirator to Make the World A Better Place: Visit

http://www.heroicstories.com/ and join the conspiracy

See my Acupuncture and Herbs website at: http://ksvaughan2.byregion.net/

And my website at Avon Walk for Breast Cancer 2005

January 6, 2007

Alon,

At some point, sooner or later, I think we really need to look,

as a profession, at the phenomenon of the schools in a constructive

light. In the past, as you know, it has been often a battle of

practitioner's associations against schools, a very divisive and

unproductive war. There are many issues to discuss, among them more

selectiveness in students, better compensation and higher standards

for teachers, more effective courses and clinical studies, business

administration, etc. Such organizations as Blue Poppy Enterprises

have been forced to pick up the slack with post-graduate training in

many of the areas that recent graduates are weak in. Sharon

Weizenbaum recently and correctly has pointed out that the diagnostic

skills in our profession are very weak.

I love teaching, and I'd love to supervise a school clinic shift,

but it just is not financially possible. The large majority of my

income is my private practice. Teaching is a part-time profession

for the most part, salaries are still low, and there are no benefits

or retirement packages out there for part-timers.

I know that some of my senior colleagues disagree, but I've

always felt that Chinese medicine is more than a profession, but a

lifestyle choice. How we live, exercise, sleep, eat is part of the

practice of medicine. It requires constant study and growth. I

would even say that my patients and students are my teachers, because

they show me my own inconsistencies and weaknesses, and need for

further study and development. It is something that is part of my

entire life. That does not mean, as Honora Wolfe points out in a new

article in Acupuncture Today, that we shouldn't have other interests

and diversions in life, from surfing to motorcycles to painting.

However, the graduates who I see as being most 'successful' (whether

in happiness or economics), are those who take Chinese medicine

seriously to the point that they devote heart and soul to its study

and practice.

On Jan 5, 2007, at 10:53 PM, wrote:

> Zev

> I also would not like to discourage anyone but at the same time i

> think we have the obligation of making sure people know what they

> are getting into. From what i have seen in the bay area many do not

> and many told me the where mislead my the schools. I have enjoyed a

> great career and have a great time doing what i do. I just hate to

> see so many great people struggle so much.

>

> Oakland, CA 94609

>

> -

>

> Thursday, January 04, 2007 11:15 PM

> Re: Re: why acupuncturist don't make it

>

> Alon,

> I appreciate Todd's honesty and full disclosure. I am just

> concerned about how students and new practitioners who are in 'the

> background' on the list must feel about all this. And, like Mark

> Reese, I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from studying Chinese

> medicine as a possible profession.

>

> On Jan 4, 2007, at 10:32 PM, wrote:

>

> > Zev

> > At this point Todd is only a peripheral poster, ie not very

> > frequent. I think the character of the list is with us. Todd has a

> > view and is entitled to share just as all of us. Hopefully such

> > opinions would come with some support.

> > I apologize if i did not understand what you wrote

> >

>

January 6, 2007

Karen,

I agree that students and new graduates should not expect an

instant practice or job placement upon graduation, and that the

schools should be both more honest about work prospects and more

selective in choosing their students. I know that there are major

problems in our field, major problems with the schools, and that they

won't just go away. I also agree with Sharon that we are a young

profession, and that we need to be patient and work hard but

positively to help it grow.

My major disagreement with Todd is in the value of the

traditional Chinese medicine itself. I have treated many thousands

of patients, and seen great benefits to most of them, even as I've

suffered through setbacks and failures over the years. I think the

theoretical foundations of Chinese medicine are sound and time-

tested. I don't think we need to wait for 'evidence' to confirm that

Chinese medicine works. That doesn't mean I am against innovation,

studies or carefully considered integrative medical efforts. I just

don't want to see Chinese medicine biomedicalized or completely

submerged to the point where it disappears from the world stage.

On Jan 6, 2007, at 9:51 AM, Karen Vaughan wrote:

> Z'ev,

>

> As a relatively new practitioner, who is working in a saturated

> market,

> I have to say I appreciate Todd's honesty. Frankly I wish I had seen

> more discussion of this when I first started school. Between the

> time I

> first applied and graduated, wages for non-entrepreneurial

> acupuncturists fell by half and the number of schools pouring out

> graduates increased. And the tuition money I set aside before starting

> never matched the significant climb in tuition so I ended up with more

> debt than I anticipated. Despite compiling an inventory of equipment

> and some useful sidelines while I was in school and taking Honora's

> course, I found that I was unprepared to compete.

>

> I do think it important to make clear at the very beginning that

> students should be prepared to be entrepreneurial, to have

> sidelines to

> support the business during downtimes, to budget and to effectively

> generate new business. If it discourages some students, all the better

> since they will know before they are deep in debt, having lost four

> years of potential wages based on inaccurate assumptions. It would

> not have prevented me from enrolling because I was called to the

> profession, but I also attended with students who were enrolled in

> anticipation of a more lucrative profession than it turns out to be.

>

> --

> Karen Vaughan, MSTOM

> Licensed Acupuncturist, and Herbalist

> 253 Garfield Place

> Brooklyn, NY 11215

>

> (718) 622-6755

>

> Co-Conspirator to Make the World A Better Place: Visithttp://

> www.heroicstories.com/ and join the conspiracy

> See my Acupuncture and Herbs website at: http://

> ksvaughan2.byregion.net/

> And my website at Avon Walk for Breast Cancer 2005

>

January 6, 2007

Zev

I totally agree, and it is nice to hear back from some of Todd's students

Oakland, CA 94609

-

Saturday, January 06, 2007 6:12 PM

Re: Re: why acupuncturist don't make it