Does acupuncturist hire medical assistants?

Question

Does acupuncturist hire medical assistants?

Answer 1

No, they don't. Their practices are usually not busy enough for that, it's not legal to have assistants in any USA states as far as I am aware of, and if they do have busy practices, they use free labor called 'interns', or 'apprentices', lol.

The only place I have heard of Acupuncture Technicians being used are in Drug Detox and Drug Rehab clinics, and that was a few years back in California. It was a hotly contested political issue - the Acupuncturists did not want them but the clinics did. It was a matter of professional protectionism vs cost-effective use of state & county funds.

In any case, you should 411 or google your state board of acupuncture and ask them.

Hope this helps,

ADDITION: ok a Medical Assistant isn't for making tea and take out the trash. The answer to the question is No. If there WAS that kind of assistant, they would have to be specially trained and certified by the Acupncture Board and a Medical Assistant is not trained for any of that. Sorry.

Dr. Devi

Answer 2

My acupuncturist in Allston, MA has several assistants that help her run her practice and shop.  Her mom is one of the women who make the teas she custom formulates and prescribes.  One of the other assistants helps her to run her store front and helps w/ English translations, as my acupuncturist is from China and is concerned that some of the finer points of her findings are not always easily conveyed by herself.  Only she takes pulses and does the actual acupuncture treatments, but there are many people who help her in the day to day runnings of her business.

I have found that many of the acupuncturists and practitioners of TCM in NYC operate the same way, with help from their family members.  I have also found that many, if not almost all Western practitioners tend to work alone.  It just varies from coast to coast and practitioner to practitioner.  Assistants are expensive, so much so that they can be hugely cost-prohibitive for anyone just starting out from Acupuncture School or any other kind of medical practice for that matter.  I also deal with a clinic in Brattleboro, Vermont that has multiple practitioners.  They do tend to support each other and work collaboratively, but with very careful and very respectful boundaries.