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.
Leng Tang-Ritchie, DAOM, MSTOM, LAc
Dr. Leng Tang-Ritchie is the vice president of clinical education and operations at Pacific College of Health and Science. She also brings her expertise to U.C. San Diego Health’s Center for Integrative Medicine, where she integrates traditional practices with modern health care. She is finishing a Master of Healthcare Administration degree at UCLA and furthering her commitment to advancing health care education and patient care.