P0287 - Development and Assessment of a Basic Acupuncture Curriculum for Pediatricians

Objective: Acupuncture has been shown to improve pain and other health outcomes in children and is well tolerated. However, use of acupuncture by pediatric medical providers is rare, in part due to the cost and time associated with formal training. Medical acupuncture certification requires 300 hours of training, costing approximately $11,000 (not including travel costs). Additionally, the training requires 3 weeks of on-site learning, requiring physicians to be away from their homes and medical practices. We aimed to develop an abbreviated basic acupuncture curriculum and assess its impact and acceptability with academic pediatricians.

Methods: Thirty-eight pediatricians completed a 10-hour basic acupuncture course, learning 2 acupuncture protocols: Battlefield Acupuncture and Four Gates. Battlefield Acupuncture consists of 5 ear acupoints, and Four Gates consists of 4 acupoints (LI-4 in each hand and LV-3 in each foot). The course was developed by 3 of the authors, who are board-certified medical acupuncturists. We utilized Kern’s 6 steps for curricular development as our guide: problem identification, targeted learner needs assessment, goals and objectives, educational strategies, implementation, and evaluation and feedback. Our curriculum, outlined in Figure 1, included an online module with videos and articles, 2 live workshops, and additional home practice. Participants completed pre- and post-tests (measuring knowledge and attitudes) and a skills-based exam. To date, physicians from 9 pediatric subspecialties (emergency medicine, gastroenterology, hospital medicine, palliative care, hematology/oncology, rehabilitation, sleep medicine, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, and neurology) have completed the course. Participants earned 10 hours of continuing medical education and 10 American Board of Pediatrics Maintenance of Certification Part 2 points.

Results: The course significantly increased participants’ perceived efficacy of acupuncture for acute and chronic pain. Participants showed significant improvement in knowledge, as measured via pre- and post-tests and a skills-based exam. Knowledge and attitudes scores are displayed in Table 1. Three of the knowledge test scores and four of the attitudes test scores were excluded due to missing data. All participants felt that the course would influence their current medical practice, and all participants felt confident utilizing basic acupuncture. Additionally, all participants felt that they would recommend the basic acupuncture curriculum to a colleague.

Conclusions: Pediatricians became proficient in basic acupuncture with a 10-hour curriculum and found the format and content highly acceptable. Multidisciplinary collaboration was key to the course’s success. Future plans include expanding the course to other departments and institutions and studying basic acupuncture implementation.

Funding Sources: This project was funded in part by an American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Integrative Medicine Education Grant. Needles for the basic acupuncture course were donated by Lhasa OMS®.