On Oct. 1, 2007, the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM) released for public comment the first draft of proposed First-Professional Doctoral Accreditation Standards, which were developed by the ACAOM Doctoral Task Force.
Individuals and groups must submit those comments no later than Dec. 15, 2007, by visiting the following link: www.acaom.info. Individuals will be able to review the standards and submit commentary, or indicate that they are in support of the standards as written.
After the Doctoral Task Force reviews the feedback from the first draft, it will make appropriate revisions, as necessary. A second draft will be available for comments and input at a later date. The ACAOM's goal is to conclude this work by the summer of 2008.
Structured water (H3O2) can be considered a fourth state of water between liquid and solid. It has the hexagonal structure of ice; however, missing a critical bond, it behaves more like a gel than a solid, but retains some of its crystalline structure.
In the past five years of my clinical practice, I have seen an astonishing upsurge in the chronic use of proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) medications for the gastrointestinal issue diagnosed by allopathic medicine as GERD. It is not uncommon to encounter patients taking these prescriptions for five-plus years.
Working with chronically ill patients entails acknowledging the reality that not all patients will survive their diagnosis. Chinese medicine and acupuncture play a crucial role in palliative and end-of-life care, addressing medication and disease side effects, alleviating pain associated with death, reducing anxiety and stress, and helping patients find peace during the dying process.
