The Acupuncturist’s Guide to Conventional Medicine

Now in its second edition, this comparative textbook provides everything students and practitioners of complementary medicine need to know about conventional medicine. It covers the physiological systems of the body and the conventional approach to diagnosis and treatment, enabling good relationships with conventionally trained practitioners. Offering a systematic comparative approach to Western and Eastern medicine, this unique textbook enables students and practitioners of Chinese medicine to develop a core understanding of conventional medical language and treatments. Acupuncture practitioners increasingly find themselves working alongside Western healthcare professionals. Now in its second edition, this book is a guide to conventional medical diagnoses, symptoms and treatments, and using examples drawn from the author's experience and knowledge of TCM it encourages reflection on how these diagnoses may be interpreted from a more holistic medical perspective. It includes introductory sections on physiology, pathology and pharmacology, chapters devoted to the physiological systems of the body and the conventional approach to the treatment of diseases that can affect them, and information on dealing with patients in practice. Accompanying online material, including self-testing questions and answers and checklists for revision, is available for those wishing to use the text for systematic study. About the Author Dr Clare Stephenson is a qualified medical practitioner who worked in hospital medicine, general practice and public health medicine for a number of years before training in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and acupuncture. Over the course of a decade she developed and taught an undergraduate course for students of Chinese medicine on Western medicine and how it relates to TCM. She divides her working time between the practice of palliative care medicine, acupuncture and lecturing acupuncture students and is based in Oxfordshire, UK.