PHASE 1: 220 Hours

1a. Pre-conference preparatory program (April 20 to June 20 2008): This stage consists of a multimedia home educational program. Prior to the Phase 1 face to face session, course materials consisting of texts, CD’s, DVD’s and tests will be sent to participants to lay the foundation of knowledge in order to optimize the learning experience in the didactic and hands-on sessions during the subsequent stages.

1b. Face to face training sessions (June 21 to June 28, 2008, 8 days): Supervised hands on training will focus primarily on body acupuncture, ear acupuncture and diagnostic techniques with an emphasis on the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) concepts and modern medical science.

1c. Post-conference home study program (June 29 to October 31, 2008): Multimedia instructions will expand on the knowledge gained during stages 1a and 1b, emphasizing on learning additional special techniques and related modalities of acupuncture such as trigger point injection, intramuscular stimulation, etc. to further prepare the participants for Phase 2.

PHASE 2: 80 Hours

Intensive Clinical Workshops (November 1 to November 8, 2008): These workshops, functioning as one unit, take place approximately four months after phase 1 (1b). This interim period allows the assimilation of knowledge and practice of the skills acquired during phase 1. In addition, a pre-phase 2 multimedia learning program (27.5 hours) will be sent to participants to prepare them for the face-to-face session of Phase 2. While phase 1 is modality oriented, phase 2 is disease or problem-oriented, covering general medicine, pain management, obstetrics and gynecology, affective disorders, etc., emphasizing on treatment of individual medical disorders.