As a Chinese medical doctor, my role is to practice Chinese medicine. This may seem obvious and without point, but there is a great deal of confusion as to what constitutes Chinese medicine and what the role of a Chinese doctor should be. I have written extensively on my website about all aspects of Chinese medicine. Here is a summation of how I think about this subject.
Chinese medicine is the application of ancient Chinese knowledge and understanding to medicine. Chinese medicine is complete, complex, inherently consistent, scholarly, time tested, clinically validated, and reproducible. My job is to evaluate and treat pain, sickness, and disease according to the parameters of this system. Chinese medicine needs to be practiced as Chinese medicine, not as a modality that sits alongside and is no different than physical therapy, chiropractic, homeopathy, or any other treatment modality.
My (preferred) job as a practitioner of Chinese medicine is not to:
- Spend all of my time with patients discussing every trendy cure and diet that appears on social media
- Find ways to use acupuncture and herbs to treat diseases and achieve the goals that another medical system has identified
- Replace medications with herbs that are believed to “do the same thing”
- Administer Chinese medicine solely for the purpose of correcting damage that results from improper treatment from other medical systems
- Negotiate every aspect of treatment to the point that treatment is compromised and progress is slowed
- Relanguage Chinese medicine into the framework of Western science and biomedicine
- Modernize or change a well-established medical system for marketing purposes
One of the issues that all of these items have in common is that they are not about the individual. They have more to do with external information and concepts than they do with personal experience. My responsibility is to treat people and help them get well. It is also to help them become aware of and trust their direct experience. Chinese medicine is based on direct knowledge and experience. One of my teachers taught me the following principle: “Most things are obvious; they are exactly as they seem.” Rather than get lost in a world of indirect and tangential aspects of treatment, Chinese medicine focuses on what is right there. This leads not only to better clinical outcome, but also to better interaction and relationship between the practitioner and the patient. Questions and conversation are important and encouraged, and in this way can be more personal.