Auriculotherapy in primary health care: a large-scale educational experience in Brazil

Publication date: Available online 26 April 2019Source: Journal of Integrative MedicineAuthor(s): Charles Dalcanale Tesser, Ari Ojeda Ocampo Moré, Melissa Costa Santos, Emiliana Domingues Cunha da Silva, Fátima Terezinha Pelachini Farias, Lúcio José BotelhoAbstractAuriculotherapy consists of physical stimuli applied to the outer ear and is commonly associated with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The authors present and discuss the development of a course that offers a semi-on-site auriculotherapy course for Brazilian primary health care (PHC) professionals. The course was funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and developed at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in 2015 by a team of experts in auriculotherapy. It consisted of 75 hours of distance learning (five sequential modules) and 5 hours of on-site learning. The modules included the following items: (1) introduction to integrative practices; (2) ear reflexology; (3) introduction to TCM; (4) biomedical view of auriculotherapy; and (5) auriculotherapy in PHC. The teaching material included a workbook for each module, 14 video lectures and an interactive ear (online resource) to study location and application to the main auricular points. The on-site lectures follow a structured script of ear palpation techniques, auricular seed insertion practice and clinical case discussions, under the supervision of trained instructors. The course was offered during 2016–2017 and on-site lectures took place in 25 citie...
Source: Journal of Integrative Medicine - Category: Complementary Medicine Source Type: research