Acupuncturists diagnose, treat and prevent disorders by stimulating specific acupuncture points within the body using acupuncture needles. May also use cups, nutritional supplements, therapeutic massage, acupressure, and other alternative health therapies.

  • Develop individual treatment plans and strategies.
  • Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes.
  • Insert needles to provide acupuncture treatment.
  • Identify correct anatomical and proportional point locations based on patients' anatomy and positions, contraindications, and precautions related to treatments, such as intradermal needles, moxibustion, electricity, guasha, or bleeding.
  • Collect medical histories and general health and lifestyle information from patients.
  • Treat patients using tools, such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements.
  • Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions.
  • Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures.
  • Educate patients on topics, such as meditation, ergonomics, stretching, exercise, nutrition, the healing process, breathing, or relaxation techniques.
  • Dispense herbal formulas and inform patients of dosages and frequencies, treatment duration, possible side effects, and drug interactions.
  • Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.
  • Assess patients' general physical appearance to make diagnoses.
  • Formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties, such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities.
  • Apply heat or cold therapy to patients using materials, such as heat pads, hydrocollator packs, warm compresses, cold compresses, heat lamps, or vapor coolants.
  • Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals.
  • Evaluate treatment outcomes and recommend new or altered treatments as necessary to further promote, restore, or maintain health.
  • Treat medical conditions, using techniques such as acupressure, shiatsu, or tuina.
  • Apply moxibustion directly or indirectly to patients using Chinese, non-scarring, stick, or pole moxa.
Work Context
  • Physical Proximity — 100% responded "Very close (near touching)".
  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 100% responded "Every day".
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 66% responded "A lot of freedom".
  • Electronic Mail — 56% responded "Once a week or more but not every day".
  • Responsible for Others' Health and Safety — 65% responded "Very high responsibility".
  • Structured versus Unstructured Work — 77% responded "A lot of freedom".
  • Contact With Others — 78% responded "Constant contact with others".
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Work Activities
  • Assisting and Caring for Others — Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
  • Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
  • Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
  • Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
  • Provide Consultation and Advice to Others — Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.
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Detailed Work Activities
  • Prepare medications or medical solutions.
  • Follow protocols or regulations for healthcare activities.
  • Record patient medical histories.
  • Advise patients on effects of health conditions or treatments.
  • Evaluate treatment options to guide medical decisions.
  • Follow protocols or regulations for healthcare activities.
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Knowledge

Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
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Skills

Active Listening
  • Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Critical Thinking
  • Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Social Perceptiveness
  • Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Service Orientation
  • Actively looking for ways to help people.
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Abilities

Oral Comprehension
  • The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression
  • The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity
  • The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Deductive Reasoning
  • The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
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Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Achievement/Effort
  • Persistence
  • Initiative
  • Leadership
  • Cooperation
  • Concern for Others
  • Social Orientation
  • Self Control
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Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Operating system software
  • Microsoft Windows Hot Technology
Spreadsheet software
  • Microsoft Excel Hot Technology
Office suite software
  • Microsoft Office Hot Technology
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