Acupuncture in Hospital
This is another article that explores the growing trend of integrating western and Chinese medicine at the highest risk level of patient care, i.e., in the operating room.
As we all know surgery is many times a scary option for patients, and we always like to try everything else first if possible, but there are those times even i as an acupuncturist accept that surgery is necessary and can often be life saving. Surgery has saved quite a few members of my family’s lives over the years.
I have the utmost respect for surgeons and anaesthesiologists and for the work they do. So seeing these top level medics starting to appreciate the benefits of acupuncture to the extent that they are offering acupuncture as an option to anaesthetic drugs in the operating room is huge.
The Benefits of Acupuncture Anaesthesia
Dr Mimi Wang, an anaesthesiologist in Denver, Colorado, sedates her patients with acupuncture needles both on the body and in the ear, rather than using pharmaceutical drugs.
Surgeon Dr Rebecca Knight says that using acupuncture during surgery has become a normal practice in the operating room. On top of the conventional benefits acupuncture also “…reduces anxiety and help patients relax.” This means doctors can use less drugs and so minimise the side effects that patients may have as well as speed up post-op recovery.
Iris who is the patient in this case, had her gall bladder removed and opted for acupuncture anaesthesia also because she was nursing her little baby. By doing so she not only reduced her own exposure to the drugs but also any chemicals from getting transmitted to her baby through breast-feeding.
Also at a time when the cost of healthcare is spiralling out of control acupuncture can also help reduce medical costs which is beneficial to the patients, the hospitals’ budget and if it becomes mainstream across the nation, even could prove to help reduce the country’s health expenditure.
Integrative Medicine in the 21st Century
Check out this 3 minute video for a news report and interviews with the doctors mentioned.
Also mentioned is the fabulous Chinese herbal medicine researcher and Noble Prize in Medicine Laureate Tu You You.
Finally, if you’re still reading you may want to know some technical details like what acupoints were used. Well all I could glean from the piece is that Dr Mimi uses P6 Nei Guan inserted obliquely and taped on Iris’s wrist and Yin Tang in the forehead. She also explains she’s going to use 2 auricular acupuncture points. We can explore acupuncture anaesthesia points protocols in a future post.
Other points seen are delivered in a by Dr. Brady at his private acupuncture clinic setting are Yin Tang and LI4 He Gu and Liv3 Tai Chong to alleviate stress and anxiety. Moxa is applied on ST36 Zu San Li and abdominal points are used in the acupuncture teaching clinic setting by the students.
If you catch any more points in the video please add them in the comments.
Thanks 👊🏽
