The Turning Point Acupuncture So You Want to be a Punk

Every week, someone tells me that they want to do exactly what I do. Well of course! Who wouldn't?! I love my job. I have the honor of serving amazing people every day: easing suffering, offering hope, connecting our community in a million different ways. We need more acupuncturists: there are far too many underserved towns and cities nationwide. I need more acupuncturists to work in this clinic.

And yet, when I hear that statement, I cringe.

The current educational system does not prepare acupuncturists to meet the needs of their communities. I believe it hinders their ability to provide affordable, accessible services. What good is acupuncture, if inaccessible to the masses? Below is a series of blog posts on the subject of acupuncture education.

Does this mean no one should ever go to acupuncture school, and the acupuncture industry will die-out? No way. Have patience, and stay tuned for some creative solutions to the educational dilemma from your friends at POCA...

Blogs on Acupuncture Education

List of Acupuncture Schools by Total Estimated Program Cost (Tuition, Fees, and Books): How Much does Acupuncture School Cost?

The acupuncture mortgage. It could financially ruin your future. Dollars and Sense: Information for Prospective Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Students

The current cost of the AOM education can’t continue along its historical path. It is completely unsustainable for everyone but the acupuncture schools. It’s unsustainable for the students, for the patients, and even for the tax payers down the road. Don't go to Acupuncture School

There is another conversation I wish I never had to have again, and that's the one where an enthusiastic community acupuncture patient tells me that she has fallen in love with the medicine and she's going to acupuncture school. Turf Warfare 2: Acupuncture Schools

The NCCAOM finally released their 2008 Job Task Analysis Report, which includes data on AOM practitioners' gender, race, income, student loans, hours worked per week and numbers of patient visits: NCCAOM and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Numbers

Yeah, I know, it's kind of surprising that AT would devote an article to the NCCAOM's 2008 Job Task Analysis, seeing how that report gives the unfortunate impression that our profession sucks. But here's something a lot more surprising: in this article, Kory Ward Cook releases data to AT that was not in the original report: AT Says NCCAOM's Terrible Numbers Are Actually Even Worse. Wait, What?!?

Acupuncture Education gets more expensive every year, while almost nobody makes a living doing acupuncture: D-O-E means Department of Education, also means DO IT, DO IT NOW!

The Feds know that it does the country no good if the private acupuncture schools make a profit while their grads routinely fail -- regardless of the intentions of the schools: Should Acupuncture Schools Be Regulated By the Federal Government?

Hundreds of comments submitted to the US Department of Education concerning acupuncture education. Martian Geology: Response to The Integrator, 10/4/10

I’ve been thinking of some of Lisa’s words...one particular phrase, referring to the schools, “you traffic in dreams”...Is the acupuncture dream equal to the completion of the educational product? Dream Traffic and Ice Floes

On Real, Relevant, Replicable Jobs for Acupuncturists: Jobs Post #1

On Stable Jobs for Acupuncturists: Jobs Post #2

One of the problematic things about acupuncture is that it is not, technically, a profession. It's not listed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Directory. Two Articles by Steven Stumpf, and a Question

We already know there is a tendency within the profession to paint a rosy economic picture. It’s time for our profession to see if the reality of a ‘career’ in acupuncture matches the myth: Replicability and the Economics of Practice

Thoughts on the Acu-School-Dream-Lifestyle (ASDL) from a Tai Sophia Graduate: My Angry School Blog

Schools failing to disclose information about community acupuncture: Midwest College of Oriental Medicine - Chicago & Racine

Your Acupuncture Education is Like a House

I Want to Become An Acupuncturist! Oh, please don't say that. Especially if you are one of our patients. Seriously. It's very sad and very strange, but we cannot possibly recommend acupuncture school to anyone at this point.