Curriculum

The SSOMA Course

The Acupuncture Hospital uses acupuncturists that have completed, or are being trained in, the SSOMA course. SSOMA stands for the School of Scientific Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture.

History of the School of Scientific Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

The School of Scientific Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture was founded in 2015 by Dr Dan Keown to create faster and better training in acupuncture for doctors. The central idea was that an online course would rapidly and efficiently teach the theory of Chinese medicine freeing up clinic time for clinical practice.

In 2019 the SSOMA course was expanded to create a new course specifically designed for laypeople - the SSOMA Foundation Course in Acupuncture. In 2020 it opened its doors to the first students and the first cohort of students was admitted in February 2020.

Due to the delay caused by the governmental response to the coronavirus epidemic the first students training was slower than expected and they graduated in 2022. They are now practicing acupuncture. All allumni are always welcome back at the school for further teaching.

The central ethos of the school is that you become a great acupuncturist by having a solid theoretical foundation on the science of acupuncture, and then plenty of practice with patients. To this end the school has placed all its theory lectures in an online course. This means that time in the clinic can be almost exclusively spent on teaching clinical skills, seeing patients and learning the art of acupuncture.

About the Course

The SSOMA practical course is a one year course to teach you acupuncture. The aim of this course is to ensure that you have the foundations to start a career in acupuncture. These foundations are:

• An empathic concern to help alleviate others distress

• An understanding of the principles of qi and channels.

• An appreciation of the principles of the Six Divisions (Liu Jing) and their relevance to acupuncture practice

• An ability to palpate the channels and use findings to guide treatment

• An ability to needle safely and effectively: painless needling with good deqi.

• A method to evaluate why treatments succeed and fail - and a process for moving forwards.

• An understanding of the principles of starting a clinical practice.

Students are expected to do around 1 hour of study per day every day. The course needs to be understood as a steady walk that generates strong momentum rather than a sprint. Students’ study is directed through the course handbook. Study can take the form of reading, written work, channel palpation or writing up case reports.

The understanding is that at the end of the course you will be ready to start a career in acupuncture. Acupuncture is an art practiced on a bedrock of science. The Foundation Course aims to give you the bedrock but it is expected that the artistry will take the rest of your career to perfect. Even the late, great, Dr Wang Ju-Yi was still learning new techniques in his seventies.

Every month students are required to attend a clinic day. Currently these take place every Friday in Tunbridge Wells, and depending on availability students are encouraged to attend more regularly if they can.

On the first day in clinic students will be taught the most important clinical skill - channel palpation. Channel palpation is a diagnostic technique that allows practitioners to get accurate information about the state of the persons channels and organs. Channel palpation is the key practice within the SSOMA Foundation Course. As well as this students are then encouraged to needle themselves, before needling other students.

The expectation is that by about the fourth month students will start to see their own patients in a supported and safe manner.

Curriculum

The SSOMA curriculum is unique in that it builds on the work of Dr Dan Keown’s two books - The Spark in the Machine and The Uncharted Body. These works show how the Chinese medicinal view of the body can be easily understood using Western principles. As a result of this work it naturally subsumes Western anatomy and physiology within it. The result is a curriculum that is streamlined, efficient and much quicker and easier to learn than traditional acupuncture courses.

As well as this Dr Keown’s unique way of teaching the points through the application of channel palpation means that students quickly and competently learn the channels and points without needing to memorise the underlying anatomy.

A streamlined and efficient curriculum is important for a number of reasons but most importantly it frees up time for students to concentrate on the important part of becoming an acupuncturist - the complexity of patients.

What Makes the SSOMA Course Different?

The SSOMA course is focused on one thing and one thing only - getting you to see and successfully treat patients as quickly as possible. Built into the course is an understanding that we all live busy lives yet at the same time can be incredibly connected.

Fees

The course fees are £8 800.

This includes:

• Minimum 100 hours of patient-facing clinical time.

• Lifetime access to the online SSOMA course.

• The Uncharted Body soft and hardback copies.

• Access to student members-area.

• Student course book.

• Diploma in Acupuncture from SSOMA on successful completion of course.

Fees can be paid in instalments with an initial deposit of £4400 to secure a place.

Entry Requirements

• No medical background is necessary but students should have a strong interest in the human body, a curious mind and a willingness to help others.

• Prospective students are interviewed via phone.

• Students must complete and pass an entrance exam. This is free and takes the form of a ‘medical IQ’ exam. Sample questions are below. The pass mark is 67%.