Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Oh no... quackery counts as medical education

Here's a recent "opportunity" from our medical school:
Traditional Chinese Medicine Rotation—Preliminary Announcement



I am pleased to announce that we are again able to offer a rotation in traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) during the Spring of 2010. This month-long rotation is possible through the exchange program between the Department of Family Medicine and FuXing Hospital in Beijing. In addition to didactic instruction in the principles and techniques of TCM (acupuncture, massage, herbal treatment), students will observe how TCM is practiced in Chinese community health centers and hospitals. Limited hands-on training in acupuncture and/or massage may also be provided.


Now that (yet another) scientific review says that acupuncture is nothing but a glorified placebo effect (and I won't even bother with the rest), aren't there more important (more proven) medical techniques that medical students should be educated in? Does the medical school really think that spending an entire month (of the mere 18 months of clinical rotations that makes up an MD) on traditional (i.e. fake) medicine will really add to their students' educations? Come on medical educators... you can't teach your students about evidence-based medicine and then allow this to count as a month's worth of credit at the same time.

4 comments:

  1. Say what you will, but this sounds like a cushy trip to China to me...

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  2. yeah, i'm all for trips and cultural experiences, but you shouldn't be able to get credit for it.

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  3. Hey, did you see that Andrew Wakefield's research on the MMR vaccine's "link" to autism was not just poorly conducted research but was probably outright fabricated? What a douchebag.

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  4. Yeah. That ass has indirectly killed hundreds of kids with his lies. I wonder what took so long for him to be found out?

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