From the President's Desk

Student Attraction Initiative  
 

There has been a steady decline in enrolments to study Chinese medicine not just in Australia, but it seems to be a trend worldwide.

In an effort to future proof our medicine, AACMA has been implementing this initiative with the intent of raising awareness of Chinese medicine as a career path.
 

Identifying this trend, the educational institutions were contacted and a collaboration to raise awareness of Chinese medicine as a career path was put into action.

 

Currently, every guidance officer/career advisor in all the high schools around Australia have already received or will receive a letter explaining the benefits of studying Chinese medicine as a career path and a brochure specifically designed for students who are considering a career in natural medicine. The brochure shines a light on a career in Chinese medicine with the university or college logos as an embedded link to each educational institution and the Chinese medicine courses they offer. The AACMA logo leads potential students to the AACMA website which provides more in depth information on Chinese medicine and also why AACMA is the go to association for student members.
 

This has resulted in a big increase in student membership for our association.

 

AACMA staff have been attending student career expos to talk about the Chinese medicine profession and industry.

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Lobbying

 

The new action AACMA is taking with the goal of achieving Medicare provider status for inclusion into the Chronic Disease Management is underway.
 

The Board is currently in the process of selecting the right personnel to gather the necessary information and data to present to Government. The selection should be complete by the end of July when their work will begin. It is projected that we will have the completed data and information by the end of October/early November.
 

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Dry needling/acuneedling and acupuncture by the undertrained  

 

Each state and territory health minister has received a letter outlining the proliferation of dry needling/acuneedling/acupuncture being delivered by grossly undertrained therapists and practitioners, some performing acupuncture after watching “how to You Tube videos”.

 

The information provided to the ministers showed how the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law was failing in its key objective of protecting the public by enabling these people to needle the public with little or no training.
 

 

For South Australian Members
 

Return to Work SA (RTWSA) will accept Chinese medicine acupuncturists as providers.

 

While the RTWSA  website is unclear in the information that it provides –  Chinese medicine acupuncturists are not listed as providers and it appears that only GP endorsed acupuncturists are able to provide acupuncture, after discussions we have had with RTWSA about this issue, they have confirmed that if the case manager/GP deems acupuncture to be a useful treatment and gives approval, Chinese medicine acupuncturists will be recognised providers with RTWSA.

Practitioners don’t need to register but must follow all the necessary requirements – information can be found through this link-

https://www.rtwsa.com/service-providers/allied-health

 

SA Members who choose to provide work cover treatments, can now promote that they are recognised to deliver treatments for injured workers under RTWSA.