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| Component Areas of the Oriental Medical Program |
| There are three general areas of theoretical and practical concentration in the Oriental medical curriculum. I) Oriental Diagnosis and Acupuncture Oriental medicine students are initially taught the traditional Oriental methods of examination, including - asking, listening, hearing, palpation, pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis. This is followed by traditional types of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean needling which form the introductory foundation of acupuncture techniques. Electrical stimulation via cutaneous electrodes, i.e., Transcutaneous Acupuncture like Electrical Stimulus Therapy, is taught as an important supplement to the traditional methods of clinical acupuncture. II) Oriental Herbology Oriental Herbology concerns the plant, animal, and mineral substances used in Oriental medical treatment. Students learn their nature, qualities, actions, and treatment conditions from an Oriental medical perspective, along with Western pharmaceutical actions and treatment conditions. In Oriental medicine, emphasis is placed on the use of combinations of herbs, i.e., herbal prescriptions or formulas, rather than on the use of single herbs. Learning and understanding herbal prescriptions and the patterns of disharmony are of central importance to the program. Patterns of disharmony are similar to what Western medicine calls disease. The framework for treatment is constructed by the patterns of disharmony. The goal of Oriental medicine is to restore harmony and balance to the patient rather than to intervene upon, or subdue, the body's natural healing resources. The study of prescription and Oriental internal medicine includes information from various schools of thought with special attention to developments in China and Korea. III) Clinic Internship Stanton University operates a Medical Clinic (MC) on the first floor of the University. The MC is wheelchair accessible and meets OSHA medical facility standards. While the MC serves as a forum where students learn the practice of Oriental medicine, it is also open to the public. The MC is staffed with highly-qualified practitioners of Oriental medicine who practice what they teach. The clinical practice part of Stanton's Oriental Medicine program is the practical counterpart to the theoretical/technical skills component of the program. Each phase of clinic training is coordinated with the appropriate lecture courses to facilitate the bridging of theory with practice. |