Choose a Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the same way you choose an allopathic doctor; carefully. Your TCM practitioner will need as much or more personal information as an allopath. A Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner performs invasive procedures and prescribes substances to take into your body. From your perspective, the necessary qualifications for either position are similar.

The first questions to ask are similar to those you would ask of other professionals. Where did you go to school? With whom did you apprentice and for how long? Are you licensed or national board certified? Do you carry malpractice insurance? You may need to ask specifically how much education the practitioner has in the treatment methods and conditions that are of concern to you..

For instance, not all acupuncturists have formally studied herbal medicine. Formal study consists of school class hours and apprenticeships, both of which include clinical experience. Correspondence courses do not. Also, if the acupuncturist has studied in Asia ask how long the course was and what the curriculum was. In addition to the full educational curriculum in the traditional medical colleges, many three to six week training programs are offered in China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan