Education, Training and Continuing Professional Development in Medical Acupuncture – a Contemporary Overview

Clinical practice guideline for acupuncture and moxibustion: Allergic rhinitis

Acupuncture is one of the most effective complementary therapies for allergic rhinitis (AR) and has been recommended by several clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for AR. However, these CPGs mentioned acupuncture without making recommendations for clinical implementation and therapeutic protocols, therefore limiting the applicability of acupuncture therapies for AR. Hence, for the benefit of acupuncture practitioners around the world, the World Federation of Acupuncture-moxibustion Societies have initiated a project to develop the CPG for the use of acupuncture and moxibustion to treat AR. This CPG was developed according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology, referring to the principles of the World Health Organization Handbook for Guideline Development. During the development of the CPG, the guideline development group (GDG) played an important role. The clinical questions, recommendations and therapeutic protocols were all formulated by the GDG using the modified Delphi method. The CPG contains recommendations for 15 clinical questions about the use of acupuncture and moxibustion interventions. These include one strong recommendation for the intervention based on high-quality evidence, three conditional recommendations for either the intervention or standard care, and 11 conditional recommendations for the intervention based on very low quality of evidence. The CPG also provides one filiform needle acupuncture protocol and five moxibustion protocols extracted based on the protocols presented in randomized controlled trials reviewed by the GDG. Please cite this article as: Du SH, Chen S, Wang SZ, Wang GQ, Du S, Guo W, Xie XL, Peng BH, Yang C, Zhao JP. Clinical practice guideline for acupuncture and moxibustion: Allergic rhinitis. J Integr Med. 2024; 22(3): 245-257.

Directed Reading: Designing a Professional Development Program for Medical Radiation Technologists

By participating in some form of professional development, medical radiation technologists can increase their skill, knowledge, and competence, leading to improved quality, safety, and standards of practice. Participation will also demonstrate acceptance of the responsibility for medical radiation technologists' own professional development. Over the past 10 years, the profession of medical radiation technology has progressed dramatically, with many changes in technology. The need for medical radiation technologists to keep up-to-date on these advancements is evident. Many medical radiation technologists participate in some form of professional development, and the decision to do so is either mandated at the provincial level or it remains a personal one. Because education is a provincial matter, the continuity of professional development or continuing education for medical radiation technologists across the country does not exist. The purpose of this directed reading is to review the options available to medical radiation technologists for professional development, to provide an overview of professional development programs from various health care professional groups, to outline how to effectively introduce a professional development program to medical radiation technologists, and to recommend the most appropriate program to implement for medical radiation technologists.

Broken Needle in The Cervical Spine: A Previously Unreported Complication of Xiaozendao Acupuncture Therapy

Xiaozendao (meaning "small-needle-knife," in Chinese) is a form of alternative medical instrument shaped like an acupuncture needle with a flat edge on the needle tip. It is widely used for the treatment of many different disorders in Asian countries, especially in the People's Republic of China. Its use has gained increasing popularity. To our knowledge, there are no reports of practitioners' experiences or adverse events related to "small-needle-knifed" therapy until now. We reported the first case of spinal-cord injury with delayed onset of neurologic symptoms from a broken small-needle-knife insertion into the spinal cord.