New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (NYCTCM) Oriental Medicine Program
The twelve-trimester (four-year) 182-credit Oriental Medicine Program is similar to the Acupuncture Program, with the addition of one further strand of courses—Chinese Herbology. This strand consists basically of two series of courses, the first of which introduces the student to approximately 400 individual herbs, and the second of which presents 250 or so herbal formulas or combinations of individual herbs.
Oriental Medicine Program students also must take Oriental Medicine Therapeutic Strategies, which is parallel to Treatment Principles in the Acupuncture Program, as well as Clinical Herbal Practice 1 & 2 and Case Analysis 3 & 4, which are specially devoted to the application of herbal treatment to various cases commonly seen in the clinic. Two courses in Chinese Herbal Classics—Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue—are also required, as is a course in Toxicity and Safe Use of Herbs. Oriental Medicine students must take 2 additional credits of elective courses that are related to Oriental Medicine study.
The clinical progression is basically the same as in the school's Acupuncture Program, except that Oriental Medicine Program students must spend 90 hours longer in each of the Junior Internship and Senior Internship phases (graduates of the Acupuncture Program returning for the OM Program must complete 180 hours in each of the Junior Internship and Senior Internship phases), and OM students must pass a test on Herbal Formulas before they are allowed to progress from Junior to Senior Intern. Of course the clinical duties of Oriental Medicine Program students differ as well—Assistants spend time preparing formulas in the herbal pharmacy, and Interns spend a large part of their time prescribing herbal formulas.
