What Do Acupuncturists Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Acupuncturists provide treatment of symptoms and disorders using needles and small electrical currents. May provide massage treatment. May also provide preventive treatments. They also insert needles to provide acupuncture treatment.

Other tasks include:

• Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental and infection control policies and procedures.
• Adhere to local, state and federal laws, regulations and statutes.
• Identify correct anatomical and proportional point locations based on patients’ anatomy and positions, contraindications, and precautions related to treatments such as intradermal needles, moxibution, electricity, guasha, or bleeding.
• Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.
• Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions.
• Treat patients using tools such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements.

We asked Acupuncturists how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

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74% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 82% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Acupuncturists insert needles to provide acupuncture treatment. They maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.

A typical day for an Acupuncturist will also include:

• Identify correct anatomical and proportional point locations based on patients’ anatomy and positions, contraindications, and precautions related to treatments such as intradermal needles, moxibution, electricity, guasha, or bleeding.
• Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental and infection control policies and procedures.
• Adhere to local, state and federal laws, regulations and statutes.
• Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions.
• Develop individual treatment plans and strategies.

We asked some Acupuncturists a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	54% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	33% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	79% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	39% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	0% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	50% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Acupuncturists also formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities. They may also apply moxibustion directly or indirectly to patients using Chinese, non-scarring, stick, or pole moxa.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Acupuncturists Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals. They might also Treat medical conditions using techniques such as acupressure, shiatsu, or tuina.

In addition, they Apply heat or cold therapy to patients using materials such as heat pads, hydrocollator packs, warm compresses, cold compresses, heat lamps, or vapor coolants.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Dispense herbal formulas and inform patients of dosages and frequencies, treatment duration, possible side effects and drug interactions.

To some Acupuncturists, it is also their responsibility to Collect medical histories and general health and life style information from patients.

Working life

Standard 40 hour work week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as an Acupuncturist, you can expect to work 40 hour work week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like working with, communicating with, and teaching people. They like helping or providing service to others..

They also like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They like working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2002/summer/yawhat.pdf