Should the AOM profession establish
first-professional doctoral standards?
Background Information
What is a first-professional doctorate?
A first-professional doctorate is a degree that leads to licensure, just as the current entry-level master’s
degree does. Establishing first-professional doctoral standards would allow ACAOM accredited colleges to
begin offering first-professional doctoral programs.
What is the purpose of this survey?
It is up to the AOM profession as a whole to decide whether students should have access to firstprofessional
doctoral programs. The AOM educational community has put a great deal of work into the
creation of these new standards, but ACAOM has halted that work because they have "not yet received
evidence of consensus among the AOM practitioner community." The purpose of this survey is to
determine whether there is support among the practitioner community for establishing firstprofessional
doctoral standards.
It's important to know...
The issue presented is not about changing the entry-level requirement for licensure. The master's degree
will remain the entry-level requirement for new practitioners for at least 10 years. There has also been
some confusion about what the first-professional doctorate would mean for currently licensed
practitioners and current students, so here are the facts:
- Currently licensed practitioners would NOT lose their licenses.
- Currently licensed practitioners would NOT be required to upgrade to the doctorate in order to remain
licensed.
- Currently licensed practitioners would have the option to upgrade to the doctorate, just as they did
during the transition to the master's, but would not be required to do so.
- Current master's-level students would be able to obtain licensure with their master's degree. They
would have the option to upgrade to the doctorate, but would not be required to do so.
Extended Background Reading
Historical Background on First-
Professional Doctoral Standards in AOM
Background
In the November 2002 Winter Issue of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Accreditation Newsletter, ACAOM
announced that it had “adopted a prospective proposal and survey to assess whether there is sufficient
support within the profession for upgrading the educational requirements for the field to firstprofessional,
entry level doctoral programs in Acupuncture and in Oriental Medicine.”
To assess this issue, ACAOM published the “doctoral statement and survey” of all stakeholders, with a
call for comment by April 30, 2003.
In the February 2003 issue of Acupuncture Today (Vol 4, Issue 2), Gene Bruno, then President of the
AAOM, wrote for the Board of Directors of AAOM “by unanimous consent” thus:
| "The Board of Directors of the AAOM believes that it is consistent with our mission
statement to fully support the process of transition to the Doctorate as first professional
degree." |
Sufficient Support
ACAOM reported that based on its 2002 survey regarding development of first professional doctoral
standards, which showed that respondents were “evenly divided on the issue”, they had established a
national Doctoral Task Force which met officially three times, with representation from all stakeholders
(Council of Colleges of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, American Association of Oriental Medicine,
Acupuncture & Oriental Medical Alliance, Federation of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Regulatory
Agencies, and World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies) in March 2004, November 2004 and June
2005. The Doctoral Task Force presented ACAOM with its final consensus report on the proposed
competencies titled Recommended Core Competencies for the First Professional Doctorate in AOM, which was
posted on the ACAOM web site in June 2005 and the Commission sought comment from all communities of
interest on this report in a series of public hearings during 2005-2006.
During the same time period, the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine reached
consensus that, based on this evenly divided response rate to the ACAOM doctoral survey, it was the
council’s unanimous position at its Spring, 2003 meeting that the current ACAOM entry level master’s
degree standards be supported as the entry level degree standards for the field for at least 10 years for
candidate and accredited Oriental Medicine degree programs and at least 15 years for candidate and
accredited Acupuncture programs, to provide stability during any transition process. The CCAOM
established an Entry Level Standards Committee to evaluate implications of such a first professional
program in AOM, review other professions that were migrating toward an entry level doctorate such as
physical therapy and occupational therapy, survey state regulatory agencies to ascertain the feasibility of
AOM colleges gaining approval to offer such programs, and study faculty development issues and the
issue of transitional or completion doctoral education for already licensed AOM providers. The CCAOM also
charged its Core Curriculum Committee with developing core competencies for such a first professional
doctorate, and the extensive work of this committee was submitted to the ACAOM Doctoral Task Force to
inform their work. Both of these committees have been charged by CCAOM with continuing their work to
ensure the best possible set of standards, and to aid AOM colleges in integrating the core non-AOM
competencies identified by the Task Force into any eventual first professional doctoral programs, and to
facilitate faculty development in these newly identified areas.
Throughout this entire process, the above CCAOM committees and the ACAOM Doctoral Task Force were
inspired by the Institute of Medicine’s vision of establishment of core competencies for all health care
providers across disciplines for best 21st century health care:
| All health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members
of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement
approaches, and informatics. |
Seeking Consensus
Based on this feedback ACAOM developed a Doctoral Committee to develop proposed standards for a first
professional doctoral program in Acupuncture and in Oriental Medicine. This committee was disbanded
and the Doctoral Task force was reconvened by ACAOM to ensure a direct role for all communities of
interest in developing the standards. At its Fall 2007 meeting, the Task Force arrived at a consensus on
proposed first professional doctoral standards and competencies, and recommended that ACAOM release
the proposed standards for public comment. ACAOM posted these draft standards on their web site along
with an on-line survey in September 2007, and held a first public hearing on these standards in October
2007 in Portland, Oregon.
Citing significant negative testimony, from the AOM educational community and especially the AOM
practitioner community, the ACAOM board of directors reached a unanimous resolution at its February
2008 meeting that lead to a halt of their efforts to develop such standards until sufficient consensus on
the issue of development of the first professional doctorate standards as entry-level into the profession
was reached.
In May, 2008, at a meeting of the full council, the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine
adopted a motion that “supports the offering of first-professional doctoral education in Oriental medicine
and in acupuncture with appropriate standards of accreditation.” Furthermore, the CCAOM adopted a
second motion that requested “that ACAOM renew its review of the first-professional doctoral standards.”
These two motions were sent to ACAOM on June 30, 2008 by the president of CCAOM, and on September
29, 2009, Carla Wilson, MA, Dipl.Ac.,& C.H., L.Ac., Acting Chair of ACAOM, replied that, “[a]lthough
CCAOM’s June 30 letter provides sufficient evidence of consensus among the AOM educational community,
the Commission has not yet received evidence of consensus among the AOM practitioner community,
which was the most significant source of disagreement on the subject among all ACAOM communities of
interest.” “If and when the Commission receives sufficient evidence of consensus, particularly from the
practitioner community, we would anticipate promptly re-convening the ACAOM Doctoral Task Force to
complete the draft accreditation standards for Commission review and consideration. If the Commission
adopts draft standards as a proposal, they would be posted to the ACAOM web site inviting public
comment, after which the Commission would consider authorizing institutions in the accreditation process
to pilot those standards pursuant to specific policies and procedures to be determined by the
Commission”, Wilson clarified.
The attached survey is meant to provide feedback especially from the practitioner community on this
matter, as well as from students and faculty in AOM colleges.
Note that ACAOM Chair Dr. Howard Simmons repeatedly clarified at the Portland hearing on this issue that
while ACAOM required a showing of strong support from the AOM communities of interest for development
of first professional doctoral standards for purposes of entry into professional practice, the bigger
professional issue of a change of entry level in the AOM profession from the current master’s degree level
to the doctoral level is not within ACAOM’s authority and would only happen once the AOM community
itself and all its stakeholders reach consensus on such a change. This could not occur until such doctoral
standards were adopted, and a critical mass of AOM colleges successfully pilots such first professional
doctoral programs, such programs gain ACAOM accreditation, and ACAOM successfully achieves an
expansion of scope by the US Department of Education for accreditation of such first professional doctoral
programs. This will take at least several years, as ACAOM representatives have clarified.
ACAOM has also clarified that it will seek USDOE expansion of its scope to accredit postgraduate DAOM
programs, for those who are already independent AOM providers with a master’s degree level AOM
education, whenever such a submission is possible.
Adoption of appropriate standards for a first professional doctorate would enable those AOM colleges so
inclined to begin piloting such a doctoral program, alongside current master’s degree entry-level
programs. Ultimately, it is the marketplace of potential new AOM students, as well as of AOM licensed
acupuncturists who might wish to go back to upgrade to the new doctoral degree, that will dictate how
fast, if ever, a change in entry level might occur. And in this process, acupuncturists already licensed in
their respective states based on master’s degree level standards would be protected against any
requirement to go back to school for the new degree to stay licensed.
ACAOM reached consensus to renew its review of these draft FPD standards at its August, 2009 meeting,
based on increased support for adoption of these standards, and has set a deadline of January 15, 2010
through its on-line Call for Comments on the FPD. It will review all comments and place this issue on its
agenda for February, 2010 for potential action. Your feedback now is critical if you support development of
FPD programs in the AOM field.
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