Acupuncture with Chinese Herbal Medicine Program

The twelve-trimester (four-year) 183-credit Acupuncture with Chinese Herbal Medicine Program is similar to the Acupuncture Program, with the addition of one further strand of courses--Chinese Herbology. This strand consists basically of two series of courses, the first of which introduces the student to approximately 400 individual herbs, and the second of which presents 250 or so herbal formulas or combinations of individual herbs.

Acupuncture with Chinese Herbal Medicine Program students also must take Herbal Therapeutic Strategies, which is parallel to Treatment Principles in the Acupuncture Program, as well as Clinical Herbal Practice 1 & 2 and Herbal Case Analysis 1 & 2, which are especially devoted to the application of herbal treatment to various cases commonly seen in the clinic. Two courses in Chinese Herbal Classics—Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue—are also required, as is a course in Toxicity and Safe Use of Herbs. Acupuncture with Chinese Herbal Medicine program students must take 2 additional credits of elective courses that are related to Chinese Herbal study.

The clinical progression is basically the same as in the Acupuncture Program, except that ACHM Program students must spend 120 hours longer in the Junior Internship and 60 hours longer in the Senior Internship phases, and ACHM students must pass a test on Herbal Formulas before they are allowed to progress from Junior to Senior Intern. Of course, the clinical duties of Acupuncture with Chinese Herbal Medicine Program students differ as well - Assistants spend time preparing formulas in the herbal pharmacy, and Interns spend a large part of their time prescribing herbal formulas.