Tuesday, October 27, 2009

China Acupuncture Conference Research Presentations

On the 4th of November, 2009, I depart for a conference in Guangzhou, China. These are the two presentations that I will make. Strategies will be a keynote address.

Strategies for Globalizing Chinese Medical Research: Standards, Cost and Ethics
  
This strategic discussion is designed with the hope of increasing the acceptance of Chinese medicine on a global platform. In support of this vision, I will present three topics.  First includes standards for reporting research. Second, involves demonstrating cost effectiveness of Chinese medicine. Third, is the Institutional Review Board, its history and importance to the acceptance of research. These three features of standards, cost and ethics may affect the rate at which Chinese medicine is accepted by policy makers. I form this opinion, as a practitioner with 23 years of experience in the US, as a past president of the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and leader at two schools of Chinese medicine in the US. I therefore request for more cost effectiveness studies with Chinese medicine, adherence with reporting standards and the development of institutional review board practices.


Qualitative Inquiry: Paradigms, Methods and Inquiry 

The field of acupuncture and Chinese medicine may be moving beyond the issues of controlled trials and entertaining the idea of qualitative research. There is however, little discussion about the paradigmatic assumptions behind any particular method of inquiry. Here, I discuss paradigms, methods and perceptions of validity that drive approaches to research. I also present a method and some glossary related to validity in qualitative research. The purpose is to expand the discussion about what constitutes evidence in the practice of Chinese medicine.

The discussion develops concepts of paradigms or world views. Assumptions that drive choice in research about subject matter, reasonable evidence and how that evidence is presented, comes from such world views.  From paradigms, we move into the placement and methods of qualitative research. This section is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather, to provide a sense of the common practices employed in qualitative research methods. Validity is taken next, since the discussion of validity in qualitative research uses different language than the practices of quantitative methodology. The practice of triangulation in qualitative research is also discussed.

Friday, October 2, 2009

The School's Role

I believe that a school of acupuncture and Asian medicine best serves the communities of interest if through its mission; it also has a concern for the wider community and ecology in which it operates. Specifically and strategically, it should be inclusive and conscious of its effect on the planet, country, state, city, organizations and individuals.

For a school of acupuncture and Oriental medicine to succeed, it places the interest of the profession and its graduate’s success first.