How Cadavers Help Train Better Acupuncturists
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
National University of Health Sciences is using its
cadaver-based
anatomy lab to help oriental medicine students become better
acupuncturists. "Using cadavers for our anatomy course is
invaluable," says Dr. Yihyun Kwon, who teaches anatomy to
the university's acupuncture and oriental medicine students. "It
helps students get a three-dimensional understanding of the
acupuncture points they will be needling on their future
patients."
National University is one of the few acupuncture and oriental
medicine programs in the world that incorporate the dissection
of cadavers for acupuncture point and meridian studies. "Most
programs use visual aids or workbooks, some programs use
pre-dissected cadavers, and others may make a one-day field trip to
another university to view a cadaver. In our program the
acupuncture and oriental medicine students do the actual dissection
of cadavers, which is very important," says Dr. Kwon.
Dr. Kwon actually designed the anatomy course, which was the
first of its kind in the world when National opened its two
master's degree programs in acupuncture and oriental medicine in
2006. "After seeing the benefits of integrating the
functional eastern perspective on acupuncture points with a western
structural perspective, other universities in Asia have created new
anatomy programs similar to ours." This includes TianJin University
in China, where Kwon recently received his PhD.
National University's anatomy program
enhances the student's understanding of acupuncture points.
"Traditional methods for locating acupuncture points typically lean
on palpation skills - feeling for landmarks on the surface of the
body," explains Dr. Kwon. "Palpation alone can be very subjective.
That's why modern acupuncture is leaning more toward exact point
location based on anatomical structure. "
"While our students are dissecting the body layer by layer,
through skin, superficial fascia, muscle and bone, they follow the
point locations through each layer of tissue. This way, students
come away with a deeper understanding of all the anatomical
structures their acupuncture needle is stimulating, and at which
depths different tissue can be accessed by the needle."
"Seeing the structures first hand also helps students avoid any
risk of needling in the wrong place or at the wrong depth," says
Dr. Kwon. "The student feedback I receive is quite positive. They
report better point location skills after the course."
When asked whether studying anatomy is more in line with western
medical studies than a traditional eastern approach, Kwon says:
"Accepting western medicine does not hurt or contaminate our
eastern medicine, but actually reinforces it and makes strong our
weak points. This type of anatomy program is an ideal example of
the productive integration of a western and eastern medical
education."
NUHS Advantage in Acupuncture Education
In this video, you'll hear why third year MSOM student Jacob Suh
is excited about learning anatomy from
dissecting real human cadavers in the university's
gross anatomy laboratory, and how understanding the physiology
and science behind oriental medicine gives him a greater
perspective on patient care.
Watch video on YouTube