Eastern Medicine Doctor

Duties and Responsibilities: Oriental medicine practitioners use forms of acupuncture and treatment through a Chinese concept of “qi” which means energy. Oriental medicine treats a variety of ailments that include headaches, back pain, arthritis, or other illnesses by identifying patterns of imbalance in your body. Other techniques that they use are acupuncture, cupping, acupressure, and herbal supplements that are applied to specific body parts or tissues. Practitioners must evaluate a patient with symptoms and be able to identify what organs or tissues are causing the aliment.

Salary: $61,000 a year

Education: In order to become an Eastern medicine doctor you must complete all the educational and training requirements. Some practitioners are licensed to be physician assistants; they take classes to be certified in oriental medicine. Most of the practitioners earn a Bachelor’s degree in biology or another medical related field and then go on to fill state requirements for practicing oriental medicine. Some states require students to work an intern or apprentice for a specific number of hours in order to qualify for certification.

Reflection: I wouldn’t want to be an Eastern Medicine Doctor because you use a lot of special ways to treat patients not like other doctors. They use herbs and must come up with a special plan that includes oriental herbs and practices into a treatment.