The NUHS Learning Resource Center (LRC) has purchased a new app that can be used as a clinic aid and reference guide for students and clinicians in acupuncture and oriental medicine.

Faculty member Earnest Mounce, MSAc, gave a demo on the new app last month. The app called TCM Clinic Aid is now available to use for free on five tablets in the LRC. Students and clinicians can also purchase the HD version of the app for their own personal iPad for $25. The non-HD version of the app is available for $15 for Andriod and iPhone.

The app offers a variety of categorized information along with dynamic pictures for acupuncture points, herbs and herbal formulas, and diagnoses. A search tool allows users to search by key words and patient symptoms to find applicable herbal treatments and acupuncture points. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners can also create a library of treatment protocols that are searchable. The app even allows users to add patient information and other notes under particular acupuncture points and herbs.

“The app has a quiz feature that can help students test their acupuncture and TCM knowledge for their classes or board exams.” Mounce said. “It’s also useful for clinicians to keep the hundreds of different acupuncture points fresh on their minds.”

Mounce added that he used the app during his five years in China, while both teaching TCM at Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine and in his hospital practice there. The app shows the names of acupuncture points and herbs in English, Chinese and other languages, which helped facilitate better communication with those who did not speak English. He was also able to ‘reverse engineer’ formulas and customize his own based on the information in the app.

Mounce encourages students and clinicians to try out the app at the LRC, “Using the app here at the LRC can help get clinicians and students familiar with some of the current technology out there that can be very useful when in practice.”