Information Stagnation
Graduation Day at my college is just around the corner as I’m writing this. Colourful capes, flying mortar boards (despite the threat of paying for all damage by the hire company!), rolls of cherished degree certificates wrapped in red ribbon, and what to do with all those revision notes!
Acupuncturists work in an unregulated market. Most go into private practice and are faced with licensing laws, insurance, and professional membership. The first is obligatory (outside London) and the second is plain common sense. The third is a no-brainer for anyone in private practice.
I joined two!
It is a requirement of membership for good professional bodies that we continue our education. The bewildering array of Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Workshops, webinars, masterclasses, and talks will miraculously appear in our socials, inbox, and occasionally my letterbox.
The question is which course should one choose. The good ones require cash and time; other courses are available (I’ll leave it at that!).
Happy me then when the British Medical Acupuncture Society annual clinical update popped into my inbox. A full, self-absorbed day, in London, being thoroughly geeky, listening to medics describing their acupuncture case studies. A very exciting Saturday trip for a Northerner!
Click, booked, receipt on the way. Thankyou. Worth 6 CPD hours. See you soon!
We’ve all been to these events. Everybody (else) seems well-connected and highly competent; they’ve obviously been at it for decades. I take a bite of my included, dry, bacon butty (vegan), and then,
‘hi, im xxxx; come far today?”
The volume control of my barked, airless execution of “Huddersfield” raises mild alarm amongst the doctors.
And then, to the lecture theatre and oodles of new interesting information. Superb, inspirational anecdotes learned after many thousands of treatments. People with the MC1R variant are much more reactive to acupuncture; who knew? Compassion fatigue is real. Revealed: groundbreaking techniques for treating shingles, Long Covid, and TMJ Disorder.
PowerPoints with incredible photographs, video sequences, handouts, and recommended reading for those in the know. It is just like going back to college with the same sense of awe and wonder, of immersion in “wanting to know more”.
But this is information. And only information. And as it transpires every time, this new, sexy information adds to my burden, because I now need to act. We Northerners are told that we need value for money!
I found myself, ethically questionable though it was, willing someone with shingles, or excruciating jaw pain, or worse, to book in. I needed to use my newfound special skills!
Information, according to Einstein, can never be knowledge. Knowledge can only be gained with experience. I remember post-graduation telling an acupuncturist friend that I had been told not to rush into private practice because I would be in danger of burning out. “Nonsense” he said, you need to get your hands on a lot of backs very quickly to be any good at this game!
When I graduated, I had developed so many new skills. I was safe to needle. I had assimilated and was still assimilating a huge amount of information. I had experienced hundreds of hours of clinical work and countless hours palpating, prodding, and needling my long-suffering fellow students, family, and (now, ex) friends.
They say graduating from College and opening a clinic is like passing your driving test. You know what you need to do; now you find out how to do it. And in that knowledge, you start to become an acupuncturist (or VET or barber or anything else).
Einstein (again!) compared life to riding a bicycle; only by keeping moving can you stay on the bike, and only by continuing to expand your knowledge can you be a good acupuncturist.
Good luck to all graduates – maybe ill see one at my next CPD event!
Or give me a call if you get shingles 😉