Pie Graph for February 2005 Acupuncture Poll.
General Acupuncture

Acupuncture Poll

Acupuncture Today Staff

The Acupuncture Poll question for November 2004 was:

What percentage of your patients do you refer out to medical doctors or chiropractors each month?

Results:

These results are based upon 605 responses. As this is a voluntary, non-scientific survey, caution should be used in generalizing the results. Here is a sample of the comments made by those who took the survey and how they voted. Some comments have been edited for brevity.

0%-20%: I rarely refer out to chiropractors or medical doctors, as I am usually a last resort to most patients that come through my door.

21%-40%: Most of my clients are referred out at some point (beyond the obligatory initial referral). However, they do not necessarily need a referral each month.

To vote in the current Acupuncture Poll, or to review comments and responses to previous poll questions, visit acupuncturetoday.com/acupuncturepoll.

February 2005
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Acupuncture & Acupressure
It’s Time to Stop Prescribing Points
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A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.

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Shabnam Pourhassani, LAc, QME, DACM