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Approved by the Florida Board of Acupuncture to meet the continuing education requirement of Acupuncture Physicians for biennial licensure and the NCCAOM for re-certification.
As a condition of the biennial renewal of a license, each licensee shall complete a minimum of 30 credit hours per biennium of continuing education that meets the requirements of Section 457.107, Florida Statutes.
Approved by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).


Medical Errors for Acupuncture Physicians (2 CEUs/3 PDAs)

Credits: 2 CEU (Continuing Education Units) for Florida re-licensure, 3 PDAs for NCCAOM re-certification


The course cites research into medical errors and best policy and procedure to prevent them in the Western medical system. It reviews contraindications and cautions for combining pharmaceutical and herbal medicine (and supplements), as well as for needle points in the practice of Acupuncture and Oriental medicine.


Course Goals:
1. To cover the subject of prevention of Medical Errors as defined by "Practice-based evidence" in federal research
2. To teach the practitioner how to mitigate and remedy errors that occur and formulate policy and procedure to prevent and minimize error, based on latest Western practice-based error research.
3. To apply this knowledge to specializations in alternative medicine, with a case study in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and the interaction between Western pharmaceuticals and herbal medicines.

Explanation:
In order to understand the problem that gave rise to the new State Licensure Requirements for Acupuncture Physicians, we begin by discussing medical errors in the U.S. healthcare system as documented since 1999. In reviewing how medical errors occur in this dominant healthcare system, we can understand how alternative medical approaches, specifically the practice of Oriental Medicine, acupuncture and/or herbal medicine, may produce similar opportunities for error.


Course Outline and Table of Contents:

Part I: "the evidence-based practice" approach to Medical Errors
A. The Problem - 3
B. Developing Methods to reduce Medical Errors -5
C. Best Policy and Procedures - 6

Part II: Medical Errors for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
A. The Problem: Introduction to differences between errors likely to occur in Eastern and Western Medicine from evidence-based practice research in Western Medicine errors - 9
B. Best Policy and Procedure to be derived from evidence: - 10
Table 1. Adverse events reported by 84 therapists following 65,482 acupuncture treatments in Japan [citation footnote] - 10
Table 2. Needle contraindications in traditional acupuncture, in order of most frequently used to least frequently used [citation footnote] - 11

Part III: Acupuncture
A. Management of Possible Accidents - 12
  1. Fainting
  2. Stuck Needle
  3. Bent Needle
  4. Broken Needle
  5. Hematoma or bruise
B. Needle Accidents - 12
C. Accidental Injury to Organs - 13
  6. Lung
  7. Brain or Spinal Cord
  8. Heart, Liver, Spleen, Kidney

Part IV: Methods to reduce medical errors in Herbal Medicine
A. Recognition and prevention of herb/drug interactions. - 15
  1. Changes due to bioavailability:
    a. Absorption
    b. Distribution
    c. Metabolism
  2. Changes due to herb-to-drug interactions: - 16
  3. Changes due to herb-to-herb interactions: - 16
  4. Incompatible and counteracting herbs - 16
  5. Food combinations with drugs/herbs - 17
  6. Teratogenic herbs - 18

Each section is followed by References and "For Further Study" Bibliography.


All CEU Professional courses are approved for Acupuncture Physician licensure renewal by the Florida Board of Acupuncture, under Title XXXII, Sections 457 and 64 A and B, and the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).


This online course includes:
    - The online Continuing Education Course, giving 2 Florida continuing Education Units (CEUs) and 3 NCCAOM PDAs
    - The online examination and correction of the Continuing Education Course
    - A printable certificate attesting the completion of the course, and an email with a link to the certificate for future availability
    - The submission of the results and of the Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to the Florida Acupuncture Board via cebroker.com, if FL license number is available.