Acupuncture Legislation in the United States: Minnesota as a Case Study

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of legal regulation of acupuncture in the United States,as the first acupuncture law was enacted in Nevada.Acupuncture,like any other medical modality,is regulated at the state level,with each state formulating and enforcing its own laws and statutes over time.This article narrates the legislative process and major developments of the acupuncture profession in Minnesota,in the context of legislative developments across the country.It tells how this midsize,Midwest state’s acupuncture profession became regulated,and examines the challenges faced by the profession before and after state statutes were enacted.Minnesota stands as a representative example of the legislative process in other states.

Case Records as Medical Stories: A Song-dynasty Doctor’s Narration of His Own Medicine-Xu Shuwei (1080-1154)

The key point in studying or teaching the history of Chinese medicine is on the doctrines underlying it and on its perception of the body,physiology,pathology,and its treatment.Namely,there is often a tendency to focus on reading and analysing the classical canons and therapy-related texts including formularies and materia medica collections.However,focusing on these sources provides us with a one-sided presentation of Chinese medicine.These primary sources lack the clinical down-to-earth know-how that encompasses medical treatment,which are represented,for instance,in the clinical rounds of modern medical schools.Our traditional focus on the medical canons and formularies provides almost no clinical knowledge,leaving us with a one-sided narrative that ignores how medicine and healing are actually practiced in the field.This paper focuses on the latter aspect of medicine from a historical perspective.Using written and visual sources dating to the Song dynasty,clinical encounters between doctors and patients including their families are depicted based on case records recorded by a physician,members of the patient’s family,and bystanders.This array of case records or case stories will enable us to narrate the interaction between physicians and patients both from the clinical perspective and from the social interaction.This paper will also discuss visual depictions of the medical encounter to provide another perspective for narrating medicine during the Song dynasty.Medical case records and paintings depicting medical encounters are exemplary of the potential of Chinese primary sources for narrative medicine.

Nurses' and students' perception of risk from medical practices

Objectives: To determine the risk perceptions of a series of medical practices in non-expert (un-dergraduates) and expert (nurses) samples.Methods: Four hundred and forty-seven nurses and 246 undergraduate students participated in this study. They all answered questionnaires about the risk dimensions and acceptance for medical practices. Results: An exploratory factor analysis on participants' answers to various dimensions of risk yielded a two-factor structure for risk perception in both samples: for nurses, the factors were"Unknown"and"Dread,"while for students, they were"Dread"and"Lack of Independence."For both nurses and stu-dents, the factor scores of Dread negatively related to individual risk acceptance of medical practices. Furthermore, nurses tended to be more accepting of practices that they knew well (i.e., low Unknown scale scores). For students, the subscale scores of the Lack of Independence factor negatively related to individual risk acceptance only for health examination practices. Nurses conceived risks more correctly and concretely compared to students. This was especially pronounced for practices related to medication use. Conclusions: Although both nurses and students conceived various risk contents from medical practices, their conceptions still differed. Knowledge of these differences in the structure of risk perception and conceived risk contents of various medical practices between nurses and students could be utilized to improve risk communication in clinical practice.

Current Situation of the Teaching of Ophthalmology in General Practice Medical Education and the Application of TBL

Ophthalmology is an integral part of general practice education,and it is of great significance to have some knowledge on ophthalmology even if the general practitioner is not an ophthalmologist.The subject characteristics,the traditional mode of teaching,and the cognitive deviation of students have greatly influenced its teaching quality.The application of team-based learning(TBL)in ophthalmology education responds to the demand of modern medical education.Building a team,designing questions that combine theory and clinical practice,as well as employing a fair scoring system can stimulate students’learning interest and improve their learning autonomy and ability to ask questions and solve problems.

Looking up Prescriptions to Treat Infectious Disease:Anti-epidemic Books of Medical Formularies and Epidemic Prevention and Control in the Qing Dynasty

Copying,compiling,publishing,disseminating,and referencing anti-epidemic books of medical formularies were common activities during the outbreak of epidemics in the Qing dynasty.Its emergence,motivated by epidemic disease again and again,was important component parts of epidemic prevention and control.They played a unique role as media on affairs such as treating patients suffering from infectious diseases,mobilizing peoples to make contributions to anti-epidemic activities,integrating and popularizing knowledge of epidemic prevention.Anti-epidemic books of medical formularies were important to link peoples,things,and substances related with epidemic prevention and control,and were a kind of motivation to actively deal with the infectious disease,control the epidemic,and maintain health.Compared to other common measures,anti-epidemic books of medical formularies participated in many prevention and control practices deeply,which actually built a low cost,spontaneous,dispersed and non-institutional system to respond to epidemic,and the system had characteristics of stronger conductibility,bigger coverage area,and better external benefits.

Healed and Crippled： The Effect of Global Medicine on African Indigenous Treatment and Care Approaches

Whereas global medicine and health care practices have improved the quality of people＇s lives, especially in the developing countries data abounds that local communities have been crippled by the same medical practises. Some societies in developing countries have become sources of specimen for clinical trials of biomedicine which is unaffordable to their citizens. This paper explores the neglect of traditional African medicinal innovations and research in favour of imported Western medicine perpetuated by the developed countries. The paper argues that global medicine and health care have neither utilized nor recognized the African Traditional Medicine （ATM） fully, despite the fact that cultures in developed world used and continue to utilize the indigenous medical knowledge. The paper further argues that instead of neglecting African Traditional Medicine, ATM and biomedicine can be more beneficial by blending them into a single system, through what we would call in this paper High-Performance Medical Research （HPMR）. This would allow participation of communities to achieve both socio-eeonomic and medical knowledge growth rather than being a monopoly and preserve of developed organizations in the North. This paper proposes that HPMR should be a systematic and scientific approach for enhancing local people＇s participation in the development of medical ventures. This paper draws on secondary data on traditional African therapeutic practices by some local communities in East Africa combined with literature review on medical practice in Western societies.

Learning by Living: Empathy Learned through an Extended Medical Education Immersion Project

Introduction: Medical student training and experiences in nursing homes are often viewed as negative;however, long-term care services represent a growing aspect of our medical system that receives little attention in medical education. The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine Learning by Living Nursing Home Immersion Project accelerates students learning about older adult care and the importance of empathy. Methods: Learning by Living applies qualitative ethnographic/autobiographic research methods to answer the question: “What is it like for me to live the life of an older adult nursing home resident?” Two first year medical students (female, 25 y/o & male, 27 y/o) were “admitted” into two different nursing homes for 11 days each. The students were wheelchair reliant from their assigned diagnoses of dominant-side paralysis secondary to stroke and aspiration pneumonia;requiring standard procedures of care experienced by older adults residents with similar conditions. Data were collected in the form of journal notes for pre-fieldwork, fieldwork, and post-fieldwork and included subjective and objective reporting of observations, experiences, and resident encounters. Analyses included journal review and thematic categorization and coding through content analysis. Results: Four themes of significance intersected for the two medical students: 1) control;2) quality of life;3) communication;and 4) isolation. Being immersed in nursing home life provided the students with firsthand experiences of loss and challenges faced by nursing home residents. This aided students’ learning about empathy and communication as key components of providing health care. Conclusion: This experience imparted knowledge to the medical students’ about aging, dignity, and the importance of making meaningful connections in order to thrive. These insights provided a gateway to establish a model of patient-centered care that is comprehensive and empathic for the older adult population.

Equipping your facial plastic clinic for office-based procedures

Office-based procedures can be a fulfilling part of the facial plastic practice with the right tools,personnel,and preparation.Equipping the clinic for office-based procedures has several unique considerations that ultimately impact its success.It is important to strategize preemptively regarding what treatments will be offered and the respective equipment that will allow the safe,cost-effective,and high-quality delivery of those treatments.Most procedures in the office-based setting are cosmetic in nature and there are often overlapping treatment modalities that target similar outcomes.Patient selection and counseling is a crucial step in preparing for office-based procedures in the effort to maximize patient satisfaction.Nearly all the most common facial plastic procedures can be delivered in the office-based based setting under local anesthesia and moderate sedation,depending on the expertise of the surgeon.To enable these and other categories of treatments,there are certain expensive pieces of technology that one might consider for their office-based practice and other fundamental supplies that are necessary for almost all practices.Though the initial investment in equipment can be costly,this article also discusses more affordable alternatives or third-party sales of devices and equipment.The field of facial plastic surgery is very dynamic and having both peer and mentorship networks is invaluable in navigating some of the financial decisions discussed herein.This article also briefly covers personnel,training,and accreditation considerations.