Monday, April 9, 2018

Getting Your Foot in the Door of Hospital Practice, part 1

keywords:  hospital practice, prospective hospital-practice integrative health practitioners, students of East Asian Medicine (acupuncture), integrative health students, basic requirements, licensing and certifications

Acronyms
EAM = East Asian Medicine.  Broad term that includes Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and related disciplines.
EAMP, and L.Ac. = terms for a practitioner who has completed an ACAOM-accredited master's or doctorate program and has a current state license.  EAMP = East Asian Medicine Practitioner.  L.Ac. = Licensed Acupuncturist.  L.Ac. is the most common state license title in the U.S.
MD = medical doctor, physician

This is the first of a long-awaited blogpost series answering the question "how do I get my foot in the door of hospital practice?"  Stay tuned as posts will be published over the course of the next 4-5 weeks.  This information comes from my upcoming book on the basics of hospital practice for integrative health practitioners.  If you are interested in following this work, please subscribe to this blog, the public Facebook page, and subscribe to the email newsletter.

Quick overview
  • First, make sure you have the basic requirements covered 
  • Then, preparation.  
  • You must enrich your foundation, pack a trail bag, and find your trail guides.
  • Your first expeditions are to develop the basic stepping stones into successful hospital practice, shadowing and volunteering.  
  • These stepping stones are used throughout your hospital practice career to learn and grow.  So, become familiar with these stones and do not neglect how much easier they make crossing streams or rivers vs. wading in without a trail guide or path to follow.


Introduction to Hospital Practice:  Getting Your Foot in the Door
First, you must meet the minimum requirements for practicing in a hospital setting.

What are the basic education and licensing requirements you need before applying for any job (paid or unpaid) in hospital practice?

  • A master's or doctorate degree in East Asian Medicine (formerly referred to as the acupuncture and Oriental medicine field) from an ACAOM-accredited program
  • Current NCCAOM® board certification
  • Current, unrestricted state license in the state you work/volunteer
    • If your state or territory does not have licensing for your profession yet, join your state professional organization to get the ball rolling on this.  In the meantime, get and maintain a state license from a state that does have licensing
  • National Provider Identifier (NPI)
  • Hep B immunization status documentation
  • Current CPR and AED certification
  • PPD test (TB skin test).  This is usually done by the hospital at no cost to the volunteer/employee and repeated annually
  • For a more comprehensive list, please see the NCCAOM® Hospital-based Task Force document, Credentialing of Acupuncturists for Hospital-based Practice:  A Resource Guide for NCCAOM® Diplomates, particularly pages 7-9.  
copyright Megan Kingsley Gale
Do not reproduce without author's written permission

Stay tuned to the blog for the next post on "Enriching your Foundations as a Gardener".

Today's resource recommendation 
The NCCAOM® Hospital-based Task Force documents or go directly to the Academy web page.
Pre-order the pdf of this entire series.

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