Location: Online
Start term: Fall, Spring
Grow the skillset needed to thrive as an acupuncturist in an integrative healthcare environment.
This program is designed for those who have completed a master’s level program in acupuncture or acupuncture with a Chinese herbal medicine specialization. The 25-credit, 16-month Doctor of Acupuncture and Integrative Health (DAIH) program prepares students to meet the demands of today’s healthcare field and serve successfully as part of an integrative healthcare team.
Students gain an understanding of healthcare practices and policies that guide collaborative care, explore models of integrative care management, learn directly from leaders in the emerging field of integrative health, and develop a foundation of research competencies to guide explorations of integrative healthcare improvement, innovation, and interprofessional delivery.
Experiential Learning
As part of the program, students gain experience through immersive experiences in integrative care settings. We maintain affiliations with leading hospitals and medical centers committed to integrative care delivery. Based on their initial experiences during this multi-site immersion in a range of clinical environments, students then choose an area of focus for a clinical placement where they concentrate their studies on the delivery of care, in cooperation with resident experts in acupuncture and integrative health.
Students also attend Grand Rounds and lectures by experts in integrative medicine at academic medical centers, including the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women’s Hospital.
Emphasis on Scholarship
DAIH candidates will learn to apply the evidence base to problems of practice. Clinical placement experiences are enriched through extensive reading and analysis of literature related to best practices and challenges in care delivery in students’ areas of interest. The program by designing, completing, and disseminating a capstone project which will explore practice-based research problems. Students will draw inspiration from their coursework and clinical experiences to develop their capstone project, with support from a designated academic advisor. Students disseminate their findings through a variety of methods such as publications, policy initiatives, clinical innovations, and educational outreach.
The purpose of the capstone project is to assist you in learning the skills required to thoughtfully question current practices in healthcare through critically searching, reviewing, and appraising research literature; understanding research methodology; promoting research utilization; and participating in the development and implementation of evidence-based outcomes in your area of practice. You will become a leader and a facilitator in the translation of evidence to promote positive healthcare outcomes.