Two recent articles by OCOM faculty members have recently been published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (JACM)
“Super-Users at an Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Teaching Clinic: Demographics and Unique Clinical Characteristics” (March 2017) by Forrest Cooper, DAOM; Ben Marx, MAcOM; Tamsin Lee, MAcOM; and Deb Espesete, MAcOM, MPH, is a retrospective chart review of OCOM patients with 100+ visits treated between 2002 and 2012. Their study found that “super-users” tend to be older, report lower income, and exhibit greater visit frequency than more typical acupuncture and Chinese medicine users. The data suggests that the factors motivating super-user behavior may be different from those in other medical domains, notably emergency medicine, and likely includes long-term management of chronic pain and other chronic conditions. The findings warrant future studies into long-term health outcomes of super-users, and the economic impacts of an integrative health care system which included acupuncture and Chinese medicine for older low-income individuals.
The second article, "Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Integrative Oncology: A Survey of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Practitioners," (June 2017) written by Zhaoxue Lu, MEd (China), PhD; Jen Moody, MAcOM; Ben Marx, MAcOM; and Tracy Hammerstrom, MAcOM, presents data from a 2014 survey of licensed acupuncturists in the United States treating chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) at Integrative Oncology centers. The survey presents data on real-world treatment patterns for CIPN, including common point combinations, visit characteristics and practitioner-reported outcomes. The study contributes to the evidence on the use of acupuncture to address unmet needs of CIPN patients, and the development of best practice guidelines for the treatment of CIPN with acupuncture in integrative oncology settings.
The articles were written in collaboration with the OCOM Research Department, and highlight the unique contributions OCOM is making to the acupuncture and Chinese medicine research community.
