Our profession has a wonderful history of cultural diversity in its practice and theory. The teaching faculty at our educational institutions reflects that diversity, which rewards us with a rich weave of Oriental medicine information and teaching skills. Many of our finest faculty are practitioners first and teachers second; their dedication to our profession and our students allows us to pass on this precious tradition and experience.
Along with this tremendous asset comes a troubling problem. We are not approaching our profession with enough cohesion and attention to academic teaching standards. I feel that we could all benefit greatly by a strong national teachers association for Oriental medicine. It need not have any political aspirations or goals, but instead could concentrate on assisting our profession in our educational skills. The Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine has started this process with a dialogue between faculty at one of its national meetings. I would like us to take this start and run with it.
We must be the driving force for our profession. It is in our best interest to be vitally concerned about our teaching abilities and how to continually improve them.
The faculty of our profession's colleges and the mentors of practitioners have always been the backbone of our education and quality of care. We have a debt of gratitude to all those who have given so much of themselves to help our medicine thrive and prosper. Let's spend some time and energy to put our heads together collectively to spearhead an educational forum for the profession.
I welcome your comments and input about this issue.
