HMI is dedicated to excellence in the teaching and practice of medical acupuncture. We are dedicated to cultivating and developing knowledgeable, committed, and skillful acupuncture teachers and to continual development of the curriculum.
Helms Medical Institute (HMI) and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Decemebr 4 - 7, 2008
Location: Varies from units. Please see the schedule.
Course Directors/Instructors:
Joseph M. Helms, MD
Cost
Schedule:
UNIT 1: Introductory Weekend (Thurs-Sun)
4-7 Decemebr 2008
Tempe, Arizona
Optional Clinical Intensive: December 8, 2008
UNIT 2: Home Study
December 2008 - May 2009
UNIT 3: Clinical Units
20-24 March 2009
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and
20-24 May 2009
Tempe, Arizona
Number of credits:
Following successful completion of the three program units, a letter verifying 40, 220, or 300 hours of formal instruction in medical acupuncture (CME hours) will be issued to each participant, approximately six weeks after the clinical unit, and subsequent to the return of the home videocassettes. Credit for the home video study portions of the course is contingent upon successful completion of post-course tests. No partial credit can be issued for participation in any unit of the program.
Link
Detailed Description:
Medical Acupuncture for Physicians presents the fundamentals of acupuncture theory, channel and point location, approaches to diagnosis and therapy, needling techniques, and patient management. It is a practice-oriented program that creates a sophisticated structure for the intelligent use of acupuncture. The course gives full dignity to both the medical tradition found in classical Chinese texts and to contemporary biomedical science, and encourages you to creatively adapt acupuncture into your specialty practice and clinical environment.
The
training is organized into three units that involve lectures,
home study and videocourse viewing, and supervised clinical
training. The introductory weekend and core videocourse curriculum
are the same for all participants, while the specialty videocourse
curriculum and clinical units are offered in the following
two pathways:
The primary care pathway focuses
on applications of acupuncture to the broad range of clinical
problems that are evaluated and treated by the primary practitioner.
These problems can range from premorbid functional and stress-related
disorders, to organic lesions, to musculoskeletal pain.
The acupuncture models presented in the primary care videocourse
and clinical units span from rarefied equilibration treatments
aimed at reestablishing homeostasis, to dense neuromuscular
stimulation.
The pain management pathway emphasizes acupuncture as treatment for patients referred to pain management specialty practices. This pathway addresses the pain of acute trauma, musculoskeletal problems such as myofascial pain and muscle tension headaches, pain of diskogenic lesions and peripheral neuropathies, and pain of organic and malignant lesions.
There is about an 85% overlap between the two pathways. The theoretical foundation for both pathways is identical: the introductory weekend, palpation and needling, core video course, textbook, syllabus, and handouts. The difference between the pathways is in the specialty videocourse lectures, and in the practical emphasis in the clinical unit. Because physicians practicing acupuncture rarely treat only primary care or only pain management patients, participants following the primary care pathway are also introduced to pain management techniques, and, likewise, participants following the pain management pathway are familiarized with the full spectrum of medical applications.
There are two format options for the full program. Both involve the introductory weekend and one clinical unit. The comprehensive HMI curriculum represents 300 hours of formal instruction in the medical acupuction. There is also a reduced 220-hour format of the essential HMI curriculum, which involves fewer home study videos than the comprehensive curriculum. Participants in the essential format will be able to responsibly integrate acupuncture into their medical practices at the conclusion of the program, but will not have the breadth or depth of theoretical and clinical information that participants in the comprehensive format have.
There is a special exposure program for residents, fellows, and hospital administrators who wish to learn some fundamental skills in medical acupuncture, but who are not at the point in their careers to embrace the entire discipline. This program includes just the four-day introductory weekend, and will enable participants to understand the range of acupuncture application for a collection of uncomplicated symptoms. Exposure program participants will receive a copy of the Acupuncture Energetics textbook, but none of the video material.
