Two weeks ago, I was back in Florida for the on site portion of an advanced acupuncture course. Although I still have about four hours of online lectures to listen to and a quiz to take at the end of them, I received my veterinary acupuncture certification while in person at Chi. It’s nice to have it done, a year after starting the initial course. It’s also always fun and exciting to add more letters after your professional signature.
While in Florida, we had a couple of hours of lecture from the medical director of Chi’s new integrative small animal hospital with some tips for approaching Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medical (TCVM) cases as well as a demonstration of implantation of titanium wire into acupuncture points for long-lasting stimulation. The bulk of the time was spent in small groups talking about some of the acupuncture techniques used beyond dry needling. Finally, we spent an afternoon in small groups examining patients and coming up with treatment plans for them. These cases were then presented to the entire class for discussion and feedback from the lab instructors.
I was a little concerned heading down there and taking part in an advanced class that I would somehow be far behind everyone else. I felt like I had to review everything and recommit to memory the points and indications for them that I have forgotten since finishing the introductory class in June. Chi’s students are all encouraged to take what we learn in online lectures and on site labs and immediately start putting it all into practice. Because we just couldn’t bring on a new service at work until now, I have minimally used my new knowledge from last spring to this point. All of the patients I have treated are linked to people I know well, who love me and trust me and fully understand that I am just starting out with and building this skill set. I don’t feel judged with them, the way I sometimes do with a client I have never met or only met a handful of times and that doesn’t actually know me beyond as their pets’ veterinarian.
Thankfully, everyone at Chi was just as wonderful this time around as they were during my previous visits and with any question I’ve asked them via email since I linked myself to the university. The instructors are lively, passionate and never make you feel like you’ve asked a dumb question, even if you’re pretty sure it should be self-explanatory. My favorite lab was on ear acupuncture, where you can use the ear as a microcosm of the body to help pinpoint areas that may be causing an issue for a patient. I hope I can make use of that more often than just in acupuncture cases.
I’m feeling more confident after attending those labs. I also picked up a couple of laminated quick references regarding food and herbs, as well as an herb book. Although acupuncture alone is fascinating and can be helpful, it always sounds like the best results may be achieved by using all of the modalities in TCVM and Western medicine together. I can’t say I have the same confidence in recommending food or herbals at this point as I’m feeling with acupuncture points, but it’s never wrong to keep learning and adding tools to the toolbox.
My tech’s dog is on the schedule for this Thursday for her allergies, which I’ve treated before, and to see if we can figure out some points that may help a behavior she has that is so far stumping all of our Western minds. To be determined how that goes for us, but I hope we can make some progress because she can’t have regular foreign body surgery.
I also had my first client schedule an initial consultation while she was in on Friday for a routine well visit with her dog. His appointment isn’t until March because of the owner’s schedule, but that’s alright because we’re still putting finishing touches on our pre-consult forms and on the exam template for our medical records. Once those are ready to go, my techs came up with a bunch of suggestions to remind clients about the service and hopefully draw more interest. As my colleague said the other day: it’s not a service most people are used to, so it’ll take some time to get clients on board. We’re making progress though! A little more every week, it seems.
“We all need to slow down and go to acupuncture.” ~ Tamara Ecclestone
