From Needlework To Hospital Rounds

When acupuncture moves from a private clinic into a hospital, the treatment room becomes part of a much larger system. The practitioner must understand medical records, interdisciplinary communication, infection control, informed consent, and the pace of acute care while still preserving the individualized attention central to East Asian medicine.

For this feature, we spoke with Lena Park, DAOM, an alumna of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine who works as an acupuncturist within an urban hospital’s integrative medicine service. Her patients include people receiving cancer care, recovering from surgery, managing chronic pain, and coping with symptoms that affect sleep, digestion, mood, and daily function.

Park describes hospital acupuncture as both a clinical discipline and a form of translation. She translates traditional diagnostic insights into language that physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and patients can use together. At the same time, she helps patients experience a slower, more attentive form of care within an environment often shaped by alarms, appointments, and urgent decisions.

From Clinic Training To Hospital Floors

Park’s interest in hospital practice began during clinical training. “I was drawn to the complexity of the patients,” she says. “In a hospital, someone may come to you with pain, nausea, anxiety, insomnia, medication side effects, and a long medical history. You cannot treat those concerns in isolation.”

Her first role after graduation was in an outpatient integrative clinic, where she developed confidence with intake, treatment planning, and patient education. The hospital required a different kind of preparation. She learned how referrals were made, how consult notes were structured, and when a patient’s condition called for communication with the attending team before acupuncture could begin.

A hospital setting also changed her understanding of time. A clinic appointment might last an hour, while a hospital visit may be shorter and interrupted by imaging, medication administration, or a change in the patient’s condition. Park learned to create a meaningful therapeutic encounter even when the schedule was unpredictable.

“Efficiency does not have to mean rushing,” she explains. “It means knowing what information matters most, selecting an appropriate treatment, and staying fully present for the time you have.”

The Interview: Finding A Place In Team-Based Care

Essence & Qi: What surprised you most about working with hospital teams?

Lena Park: How much curiosity there was. I expected to spend a lot of time explaining acupuncture, and I do, but many clinicians were already interested in how it might support pain management, nausea control, sleep, or emotional regulation. The most important step was demonstrating that I understood their priorities and respected the boundaries of my role.

Essence & Qi: How do you explain acupuncture to a patient who is unfamiliar with it?

Park: I begin with the patient’s goal rather than a theory lesson. If the person wants to sleep, I ask what prevents sleep. If the concern is pain, I ask how it affects movement, mood, and recovery. Then I describe acupuncture as a treatment that may influence pain processing, muscle tension, autonomic balance, and the experience of stress. I make clear what we know, what we are still studying, and what response we will monitor.

Essence & Qi: What does collaboration look like during a typical consult?

Park: It may be as simple as reviewing the chart and speaking with a nurse before entering the room. Sometimes I coordinate with physical therapy because the patient wants to move more comfortably after treatment. In oncology, I may discuss timing with the medical team, especially when blood counts, infection risk, anticoagulant use, or procedures are relevant. Collaboration is part of patient safety, not an optional courtesy.

Essence & Qi: Has hospital work changed how you practice traditional medicine?

Park: It has made me more precise. I still consider patterns, constitution, tongue, pulse when appropriate, and the patient’s lived experience. But I also need to understand laboratory values, medications, precautions, and the medical plan. Traditional medicine becomes stronger in the hospital when it is practiced with discipline and humility.

Translating East Asian Medicine Into Clinical Language

A hospital acupuncturist works across several vocabularies. A patient may describe “a heavy feeling in the chest,” while a physician is tracking cardiopulmonary symptoms and a nurse is monitoring anxiety, oxygen saturation, and sleep disruption. Park does not replace one vocabulary with another. She connects them.

Her documentation typically includes the patient’s stated concern, relevant medical context, assessment, treatment provided, response, and follow-up plan. This structure allows other clinicians to understand why acupuncture was offered and what changed afterward. It also prevents vague claims from taking the place of observable clinical information.

Evidence-informed communication is especially important when discussing familiar practices outside acupuncture. For example, patients often ask about gua sha for cosmetic or facial concerns. Park points them toward balanced educational material, including evidence on facial gua sha, while explaining that research quality, technique, and treatment goals all matter.

“Patients deserve honesty,” Park says. “We can respect traditional practices without promising that every treatment works for every person. That honesty builds trust with patients and with colleagues.”

Hospital Concern	Acupuncture Support	Collaboration Needed	Important Safeguards
Postoperative or chronic pain	May complement pain education, movement, medication, and rehabilitation	Physicians, nurses, physical therapists	Review surgery, medications, bleeding risk, and infection precautions
Nausea and digestive discomfort	May support symptom management alongside the medical plan	Oncology, surgery, nursing, nutrition	Clarify the cause of symptoms and identify urgent changes
Sleep disruption and stress	May encourage relaxation and improve the patient’s sense of agency	Nursing, behavioral health, social work	Screen for delirium, severe distress, and medication effects
Muscle tension and limited mobility	May support comfort before or after therapeutic movement	Physical therapy and rehabilitation	Avoid interfering with lines, wounds, devices, or mobility plans
Long-term health behavior	Provides education, self-care strategies, and follow-up	Primary care and community providers	Address social context without judgment or overstepping scope

A Day On The Integrative Medicine Service

Park usually begins by reviewing new referrals and checking for changes in status. A patient who was appropriate for treatment the previous afternoon may have a new procedure, fever, medication adjustment, or laboratory result that changes the plan. “The chart review is part of the treatment,” she says. “It helps me arrive prepared instead of asking the patient to repeat everything.”

Her first visit is deliberately conversational. She asks what the patient hopes will improve, what has already helped, and what feels most difficult at that moment. She observes posture, breathing, facial expression, and movement, then combines those observations with the medical record and the patient’s traditional assessment.

Treatment may involve a small number of acupuncture points, gentle needling, auricular acupuncture, acupressure instruction, breathing practices, or education about rest and movement. The choice depends on the patient’s condition and the hospital environment. A person who is exhausted may benefit from a brief, quiet treatment rather than an elaborate protocol.

Follow-up is often measured through practical changes. Can the patient turn in bed more comfortably? Is nausea less intrusive? Did the person sleep for longer stretches? Can they participate in physical therapy? Park records these responses because small functional gains can be clinically meaningful, particularly for patients managing several symptoms at once.

Safety, Scope, And Patient Trust

Safety begins before the needle is selected. Hospital acupuncturists must understand precautions related to anticoagulants, low platelet counts, immune suppression, central lines, surgical sites, implanted devices, skin conditions, and altered sensation. They must also know when to postpone treatment and when to contact the primary medical team.

Park emphasizes that saying “not today” can be a successful clinical decision. “There is a temptation to prove the value of the service by treating everyone,” she says. “But sometimes the best care is to wait, offer acupressure, teach breathing, or communicate a concern to the team.”

The hospital environment also exposes practitioners to the broader pressures affecting health. Financial stress, isolation, work demands, sleep loss, and compulsive behaviors can influence pain, anxiety, and adherence to care. Conversations about risky digital entertainment and gambling risk patterns may be relevant when a patient’s stress, finances, or family relationships are affected. The acupuncturist’s role is not to diagnose every social problem, but to notice concerns, respond without stigma, and connect patients with appropriate resources.

Confidentiality is equally important. Park avoids discussing identifiable cases in public settings and uses general language when teaching students. “A patient may share something deeply personal during acupuncture because the room feels calm,” she says. “That trust carries responsibilities. We have to protect privacy and communicate only what the care team needs to know.”

Skills Students Can Build Now

Students interested in hospital-based acupuncture benefit from strong fundamentals, curiosity about biomedicine, and repeated practice explaining their clinical reasoning. They do not need to abandon traditional frameworks. They do need to learn how to apply them responsibly in settings where multiple professionals share accountability for the patient.

Park recommends seeking supervised experiences in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, oncology programs, pain clinics, and community health settings. Each environment reveals different patient needs and communication habits. Students should observe how referrals work, how clinicians document care, and how treatment plans change when a patient’s condition changes.

They should also practice concise case presentations. A useful presentation identifies the patient’s primary concern, relevant medical factors, treatment goal, intervention, response, and any follow-up issue. This format helps an acupuncturist contribute to rounds or team discussions without overwhelming colleagues with unnecessary detail.

Practices That Strengthen Hospital Readiness

• Learn common medications, procedures, contraindications, and hospital precautions alongside acupuncture theory.
• Practice writing brief, objective notes that connect treatment to a functional patient goal.
• Develop a clear explanation of acupuncture for patients who are skeptical, anxious, or medically complex.
• Seek mentorship from practitioners who collaborate with physicians, nurses, therapists, and behavioral health professionals.
• Track outcomes such as sleep, mobility, nausea, pain interference, and patient-reported function.

Holding Tradition Within Modern Care

For Park, hospital practice does not represent a compromise between traditional medicine and biomedicine. It is a setting where each system can contribute different forms of attention. Biomedical care may identify disease, stabilize urgent conditions, and guide medication or surgery. Acupuncture may help patients engage with recovery through symptom support, focused listening, and individualized regulation practices.

She is careful, however, not to romanticize the work. Hospital acupuncture can involve limited space, difficult conversations, complex consent issues, and patients whose expectations cannot be met with a single treatment. The practitioner must tolerate uncertainty and remain grounded in the patient’s goals.

“Traditional medicine teaches us to look at the whole person,” Park says. “In a hospital, that means remembering the whole person while also understanding the seriousness of the medical situation. Both forms of attention are necessary.”

Her experience also reinforces the value of education. Alumni who enter hospitals become ambassadors for the profession, whether they are speaking with a surgeon, documenting a response, teaching a patient acupressure, or helping a student understand why a treatment must be modified. Professional credibility grows through careful practice repeated over time.

A Future Built Through Collaboration

Park hopes more hospitals will develop integrative services that include acupuncture alongside pain management, rehabilitation, oncology support, palliative care, and behavioral health. She believes these programs should be evaluated through thoughtful research and meaningful patient outcomes rather than enthusiasm alone.

She also hopes students will see hospital work as an invitation to expand their skills. “You bring your tradition with you,” she says. “You do not have to erase it to work in a medical setting. You have to learn how to make it understandable, safe, and useful for the people around you.”

Her career offers a clear picture of what an alumni acupuncturist can contribute to modern healthcare: careful observation, respect for complexity, practical symptom support, and a willingness to work as part of a team. For practitioners preparing to enter the field, that combination of cultural knowledge, clinical training, and collaborative communication can open meaningful paths beyond the private treatment room.

Pacific College students and alumni can explore clinical placements, continuing education, and integrative medicine resources to prepare for this evolving area of practice. The next hospital consult, research project, or interdisciplinary conversation may begin with a single well-trained practitioner who knows how to listen, communicate, and care with precision.