Acupuncture as a part of Chinese medicine is not a uniform field of knowledge and practice but known for its plurality. Historians of Chinese medicine, medical anthropologists or physicians conducting clinical trials, all underlined the plurality of diagnosis and practices in the field of Chinese Medicine. Although some literature analysed the case of Chinese medicine in Taiwan, mentioning the scope of acupuncture use, little is known about acupuncture practice particularly.
The purpose of this research was to determine how education, the age and the years of practice of the Chinese medicine physicians and as well as the direct environment influence in their practice of acupuncture. In order to understand what leads to different practices, we designed a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained three parts. The first part gathered demographic data, the second part addressed questions about the general use of acupuncture and the third part concerned the diagnosis and treatment of low back pain. The questionnaire was sent to 403 Chinese medicine physicians practicing in Western and Chinese medicine hospitals and 177 physicians responded (44%).
The results obtained trough the questionnaire showed that the geographical situation and the education course had a strong influence on the therapeutic methods used by the Chinese medicine physicians and on the categories of diseases treated by acupuncture. The age and the years of practice of the physicians were also correlated and the different type of hospitals showed some differences too. In the north of the island acupuncture was more frequently used and physicians used to treat a larger scope of diseases categories with acupuncture. Special licence qualified physicians treated more categories of diseases with acupuncture than the physicians graduated of the school of Chinese medicine and the school of Post baccalaureate Chinese medicine. Older physicians having a long clinical experience also used acupuncture to treat a large variety of diseases. Then physicians working in Chinese medicine hospitals used to treat a larger scope of diseases categories with acupuncture and they founded more important to use Chinese medicine diagnosis tools than physicians working in Western medicine hospitals.
The plurality found in acupuncture practice is a complex process where different factors interact at different levels. The geographical situation and the education background were the two main factors influencing acupuncture practice. However, further studies are needed to understand the situation of acupuncture practice in private clinic and examine the role played by the health insurance coverage.
