Location: Online
Start term: Fall, Spring
Grow the skillset you will need to thrive as an acupuncturist in an integrative healthcare environment.
Designed for practicing acupuncturists who have previously earned a master’s degree in acupuncture, the 25-credit Doctor of Acupuncture and Integrative Health (DAIH) prepares students to meet the demands of today’s healthcare field and serve successfully as part of an integrative healthcare team.
In this program, students gain 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 during two, one week immersions in integrative care settings in Massachusetts. We maintain affiliations with a number of leading hospitals, including Boston Medical Center and UMass Memorial Medical Center. All students will gain exposure to each setting during their first week-long placement which will cover integrative care delivery methods for chronic pain, oncology, pediatrics and public health/health disparities. 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 second, one-week focused clinical placement in Massachusetts, where they concentrate their studies on the delivery of care in one institution, in cooperation with resident experts in acupuncture and integrative health.
Students also attend Grand Rounds and other didactic sessions at area academic medical centers, including the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women’s Hospital.
Emphasis on Scholarship
Doctoral students in the DAIH program will contribute to the knowledge base of the profession. 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. Students conclude 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. Capstone topics might include developing a pilot integrative group visit program in your local community, or surveying chronic pain providers in your region, or focusing on the factors that contribute to the success of collaborative care in managing pediatric pain