Acupuncture
PCU College's Acupuncture program is a condensed version of four-year acupuncture programs offered at TCM universities in China. The unique program trains students in the ancient art of acupuncture and gives them a solid foundation in the principles of traditional Chinese medicine.
Along with TCM subjects, such as TCM philosophy, meridians and acupoints, students learn about physiology, anatomy, microbiology, and Western medical diagnosis.
Students are able to observe the operations of a TCM clinic through their supervised clinical internships. They gain hands on experience in clinical skills such as interviewing patients, diagnosis, treatment and formulating herbal prescriptions.
“I am passionate to work in the healthcare field and to help people find relief from pain and anxiety. PCU College is a good place to study holistic medicine because the expert faculty will lead you into this field.” - Sunny G., PCU College Graduate
This program is 96 weeks in length.
Job Opportunities
- Acupuncturist
Program Courses
The program outline below is for British Columbia .
Term 1
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- This course discusses the origin and development of TCM beginning over two thousand years ago, the progress of medical science, and the history and development of Acupuncture and TCM in China, as well as in North America and over the world.
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- Students will explore and improve the caring interaction and effective communication with their patients. During this course, students will be introduced to the difference between therapeutic dialogue and everyday communication, the significance of nonverbal communication, and how to maintain an empathetic yet objective approach when communicating with patients. The patient and health care professional relationship will be examined.
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- This course is a practical guide to business planning, advertising, insurance billing and business ethics. Medical legal issues will be studied with a view towards legal responsibilities and obligations to patients and other health care providers. The courses introduces the students to patient record-keeping, informed consent, confidentiality and privacy issues, standards of practice, and code of ethics as health care professionals.
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- This course covers most common symptoms during TCM practice. It introduces the thinking pattern of how to recognize a group of similar symptoms and identify their differences. After complete this course, students will able to make a correct TCM diagnosis.
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- This course introduces the students to the principles of diagnosis in Chinese medicine. Students will learn the signs and symptoms important for TCM diagnosis and the importance of a holistic approach in TCM. The course will then focus on the four TCM diagnostic skills. It covers 'looking' skills, including tongue diagnosis; ‘hearing’ and ‘smelling’ skills; questioning skills for a whole range of patients, including those specific for women and children, are included. Pulse diagnosis is the key focus in this course. Students will learn about the normal pulse, as well as factors affecting pulse taking, types of pulses, and their clinical significance. Other palpation skills will also be introduced.
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- In this course, students will learn about pattern identification and syndrome differentiation based on signs and symptoms collected from the diagnostic techniques learned in the previous course. Students will learn the identification of patterns according to the pathogenic factors, Eight Principles, Zang Fu Organs, Three Burners, Meridians, and the Six Stages Principles. Students will learn skills to discriminate patterns of diseases that are similar to each other by comparing syndrome characteristics.
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- TCM has developed into many schools of thought, and the differences between these schools enrich and broaden the TCM field. In this course, students will learn about the fundamental concepts of each school, and the differences in these TCM schools of thought in terms of TCM diagnosis and treatments.
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- This lecture course introduces the fundamental principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine including Yin-Yang theory and the Five Elements theory as well as part of basic life substances. Students will associate these theories with their historical backgrounds, philosophies, and significance. Students will build upon this critical knowledge base in all subsequent TCM coursework.
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- This lecture course, building on TCM Theory I, introduces students to the theories of Zang-Fu (TCM internal organs) and the basic life substances such as Essence, Qi, Blood, and Body Fluids. This course enables students to understand how the human body works in a normal condition based on TCM principles. This course in the also introduces TCM etiology, pathogenesis, and preventive and treatment principles. This course lays the fundamental knowledge of how diseases occur, how to render a treatment strategy based on TCM principles, and how to maintain wellness through TCM prevention methods.
Term 2
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- This course introduces the structure and arrangement of gross surface features with special attention to the musculoskeletal, respiratory cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, nervous and genitourinary systems. Students will study functions and regulation of organ systems in this course. Specific attention will be placed on the respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, digestive, urinary and reproductive systems. The physiology of exercise and energy metabolism will also be discussed.
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- This course will examine basic principles of biochemistry. Fundamentals of organic and cellular chemistry will be presented, focusing on chemical interactions within living cells that form the foundation of all life processes. Students will become familiar with structures, functions, and properties of various molecules important in the daily mechanism of the human body. These principles are important for understanding common health problems.
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- This course is designed to introduce the pathogenic microorganisms that cause diseases and ways to prevent infection such as vaccination, sterilization, and disinfections. Bacteriology and virology are topics covered in this course.
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- Pathology involves the study of the nature and mechanism of diseases. This course teaches students the basic concepts of pathology dealing with abnormal cellular changes, response, injury, acute and chronic inflammation, neoplasm, and a systemic review of pathology in neurological and endocrine and other systems.
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- This course provides basic knowledge of Western medical drugs. Students will study the mechanism of actions, absorption, excretion and toxicity of specific drugs. It is a comprehensive study of therapeutic approaches and drugs used in the treatment of diseases in western medicine.
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- Building on the anatomical knowledge acquired in W110, students will study functions and regulation of organ systems in this course. Specific attention will be placed on the respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems. The physiology of exercise and energy metabolism will also be discussed.
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- Students will examine the methods of physical diagnosis in western medicine. Emphasis is placed on history taking, and physical examination based on the system approach. Students will develop their skills in diagnostic procedures and functional tests of various body systems that can be used hand in hand with TCM diagnostic skills. This course will also cover differential diagnosis of common and critical symptoms and signs.
Term 3
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- This is a study of the Chinese method of therapeutic massage, which deals with Yin, Yang, Qi, Blood and the internal organs. This course covers Tuina basic principles, manipulation techniques, functions, indications, and contraindications. Students will also learn how to draw up a Tuina treatment plan for patients.
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- Students will have an opportunity to discuss cases and also review difficult, interesting, and unusual cases in acupuncture. Emphasis will be on improving proficiency in acupuncture prescriptions.
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- Students will continue study about interesting and difficult cases in acupuncture. Emphasis will be on improving students' capability to prescribe acupuncture treatments for a wide variety of conditions in a full spectrum of patients proficiently and independently.
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- This course more focuses on the summary study acupuncture treatment with diagnosis and TCM foundation. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to analyze and differentiate syndrome then establish diagnosis and treatment plan, composition of acupoint prescriptions. This course will improve acupuncture treatment.
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- This course covers various needling techniques. Safety course, acupoint location, needling angles, insertion depth, needling method, manipulation techniques, reinforcing and reducing techniques will be studied in details. This course improves point location and clinic skills.
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This course covers various needling techniques including sterilization, needling methods, manipulation techniques, reinforcing and reducing techniques as well as needle withdrawal method. Needling angles and insertion depth will be studied in details. Therapeutic methods such as moxibustion, cupping, scalp and ear acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, magnet therapy will be included. At the end of the course, students will be competent in the skills required to apply acupuncture therapy.
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- This course begins the detailed study of the principles of acupuncture prescription and treatment methods. Students will analyze and differentiate pathological conditions particular to the internal organs of the body and establish diagnosis and treatment plan. The general principles of acupuncture treatment, composition of acupoint prescriptions, theories for combining acupoints, are introduced in this course.
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- In this course, students begin to study the treatment of common diseases by acupuncture. The focus of this course will be internal diseases related to the respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems.
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- Students continue with the study of treating of internal diseases by acupuncture. The focus will be on pain treatment and diseases related to the motor, sensory, and urinary systems.
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- This course covers details of how to applying the manipulated techniques to correct or treat clinical disorders. It focuses on practical aspect of Tuina skills.
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- This course provides students with a detailed understanding of the acupuncture points to be treated with special caution, including points close to internal organs, arteries, nerves and the brain.
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- Students will learn how to maintain a clean and safe clinical practice of acupuncture. Special attention will be paid to acupoints that are close to internal organs, arteries, nerves and the brain. The communication of diseases, theory, and practice of the Clean Needle Technique, the procedure of a typical acupuncture treatment is studied. Students will learn how to prevent and handle possible accidents during acupuncture treatments. Students will incorporate knowledge from the A210 Acupuncture Technique course with this one in order to gain acupuncture competency before working in the clinic. Students will also learn how to recognize emergency situations in the clinical setting and provide appropriate referral to other healthcare professionals for proper continuation care of patients.
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- This course introduces the meridian theory and acupoint study. It covers the Qi flowing pattern and the pathways of the main meridians and extra channels. Points on the 14 meridians, which have specific therapeutic properties and grouped under special categories are introduced. Methods of locating acupoints by proportional measurement, anatomical landmarks, and finger measurement are introduced. The ability to accurately locate acupuncture points is built up through lectures, demonstration, and hands-on practice. The course includes detailed study of acupoints for their locations, functions, and indications in the Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, and Spleen, Heart, Small Intestine, Gall Bladder, Kidney, Pericardium channels
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- This course will include detailed study of locating acupoints on the Bladder and Du channels by palpating spinal processes as well as the acupoints on the Triple Burner, Liver, and Ren channels. It also covers the pathways of the eight extra channels and Extraordinary points as well. This course will then focus on detailed understanding of acupoints to be treated with special caution.
Term 4
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- This course, first in a series of four courses, introduces students to the field of Chinese herbal medicine. Topics include herbal classification, processing, storage, names, tastes, properties, entering channels, actions, indications, and contraindications. It then focuses on detailed study of herbs indicated for dispersing, clearing heat, and purging. Raw herb recognition is included as part of the study.
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- Herbs in the categories for eliminating dampness, warming internally, regulating Qi, promoting digestion, and eliminating parasites, are studied in details for their functions and indication in this course. Raw herb recognition is included as part of the study.
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- This course will include detailed study of herbs for stopping bleeding, promoting blood circulation, dissolving phlegm, tranquilizing, calming internal wind, and opening gate. Raw herb recognition is included as part of the study.
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- This course will include detailed study of herbs for tonifying, astringing, as well as herbs for external use only. Raw herb recognition is included as part of the study. Students will learn about how to distinguish herbs with similar appearances. Herbology I, II, III, and IV together provide a detailed survey of herbs commonly used in the TCM profession. PR: H101
Term 5
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- Students learn Chinese Pinyin (a system of Romanized spelling for transliterating Chinese), pronunciation of Chinese syllables and recognition of simple Chinese characters in this course. This understanding is essential for the future study of names of acupoints and herbs.
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- This course is an introduction to Chinese philosophy and theories of qi as expressed in the patterns of movement of taiji and the exercises and breathing techniques of qigong. Students will learn to a full set of taiji exercise as well as qigong exercises for maintaining general health. PR: none
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- Great ancient Chinese physicians have always understood the profound influence of diet on a person's well being. This course examines a large number of common agricultural food products according to their TCM categorizations and what roles they play in health. As with medical herbs, food is classified by its nature, property, taste, indications and contraindications in the treatment of diseases and the maintenance of health. PR: H230
Term 6
| Code | Course Name | Hours |
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- Interns will continue to perform history-taking of patients, but will also make supervised diagnoses, and recommend and dispense herbal prescriptions. They will conduct acupuncture treatment as a group under the supervision of a clinical instructor. Emphasis will be on improving acupoint location accuracy, needling techniques, angles and depth.
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- Interns will continue to perform history-taking of patients, but will also make supervised diagnoses, recommend and formulate herbal prescriptions. They will conduct acupuncture treatment under the supervision of a clinical instructor. Emphasis will be placed on setting up thorough acupuncture treatment plans for patients.
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- Interns will continue to perform history-taking of patients, but will also make supervised diagnoses, recommend and formulate herbal prescriptions. They will conduct acupuncture treatment under the supervision of a clinical instructor. Emphasis will be on prescribing herbal medicine with high proficiency and independence.
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- Interns continue to observe the operations of the TCM clinic. Students will continue to practice maintaining a clear medical record for a patient. They will observe how a senior intern or clinical supervisor conduct TCM interviews, make diagnosis and determine appropriate treatment. There will be no diagnosis or treatment of patients done by students during his time. Emphasis will be on writing clear medical records, and demonstrating professionalism and a commitment to patient care.
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- Interns continue to observe the operations of the TCM clinic. Students will continue to practice maintaining a clear medical record for a patient. They will observe how a senior intern or clinical supervisor conduct TCM interviews, make diagnosis and determine appropriate treatment. There will be no diagnosis or treatment of patients done by students during his time. Emphasis will be on writing clear medical records, and demonstrating professionalism and a commitment to patient care.
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- Interns will perform taking of patient history and vital signs, and will begin making supervised diagnoses as a group. They will also formulate herbal treatments once the clinical supervisor gives an herbal prescription. Emphasis will be put on collecting relevant information by using the four TCM examination skills and on differentiating syndromes based on TCM theories.