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.
Lynne Morgan, RN, LAc, OMD
Lynne Morgan is a registered nurse and licensed acupuncturist. She currently works as an acupuncturist at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, treating veterans for various types of health issues in the center's integrative medicine clinic. She lives in Salt Lake City.