The ideal thing for a therapist would be to have freedom and confidence to perform the treatment throughout the entire session. To make this possible, having a clear treatment protocol prepared ahead of time is very important.
A treatment Protocol consists of two parts:
1) A series of acupoints selected by the therapist to use in treatment for a patient.
2) A protocol performance schedule with time offset and time interval that relaxes both the doctor and patient, guiding the therapist throughout the acupuncture treatment.
Acupoints Selection for the Treatment
As described in the previous sections (see Selection of Acupoints and Database Search), the therapist chooses a series of acupoints by 1) adding them to the Selected Acupoints List manually from the Acupoints List, 2) clicking on the color ball-indicated acupoint on the chart, and / or 3) searching the database and adding them automatically. The therapist checks through all these points listed in the Selected Acupoints List, selects necessary points and removes unnecessary points.
The following is an example as how to quickly build the Treatment Acupoints List (the content of Treatment Protocol).
First, enter some keywords in the Search Text Box, and click the Search Icon to search out all related Acupoints.
Type in some keywords manually or enter them from the Symptoms/Diseases List to perform search.
You may also manually click the acupoint name listed in the Acupoints List to add them to the Selected Acupoints List. If you are an experienced acupuncturist, you may simply know which points you want, and then directly go to the chart, pan the image, and find the desired point. By compiling points in any of the above mentioned methods, you have created a list of acupoints to be used (as shown to the right).
The sequence of Selected Acupoints in the list can be arranged by using drag and drop function that moves items up or down in the list. You can also can use some other operation functions for the Selected Acupoints List. To do so, right click the list and bring up the menu. You will see some functions such as Select All, Delete All, Delete One, Delete All Selected, Delete All Unselected, Sort (0-9, a-z), Sort (9-0, z-a), Navigating All Points, etc.
You may like to use the "Navigating All Points" function to play an animation navigating all points you have selected. To do so, either choose "Navigating All Points" in the popup menu or click the title of "Selected Acupoints". You may want show this animation to your patient before the treatment, so he or she will have some idea about the treatment, and get ready to cooperate with your treatment. If you are an acupuncture teacher, this animated navigation will help you explain about acupoints and meridians. It can also serve as a tool for self-learners / students who study acupuncture. The navigation speed can be changed with the progressive bar or with the interval text box located on the top area of the chart panel (the progressive bar or text box appears only when Active Meridian Name is pressed and navigation is activated).
The sequence of the acupoints listed in the list will be the sequence of the acupoints with which you treat the patient (see the following section to understand how to create the protocol time schedule).
Treatment Protocol Performance Schedule
(Time Offset and Interval)
The next thing to do is to follow this protocol to perform the treatment, teaching instruction, or self-learning practice. During this process, IAA displays each acupoint's information (locations, therapeutic effects or indications, etc.), and at the same time it plays an audio recording of the acupoints' names or alphanumeric names to guide you go through the treatment procedure.
Each acupoint's original Chinese name or the standardized alphanumeric name will be repeated for the number of times as you set in the protocol setting section. The time interval between two different points will be set in the same window. To set these parameters, click on the Settings Button on the top menu of the Operation Window:
Treatment Protocol Settings
Enter appropriate numbers in the "Protocol Settings" and click the Save Button to store the parameters. The following three related parameters determine the features of the treatment protocol performance.
Time Offset is the time in seconds that IAA will wait for after you click the Play Button on the bottom area of the screen (see below). This time offset will give you some delay time until you actually start the first acupoint treatment. If this time offset is set to zero, then you will have to be ready to immediately begin after you click the start button.
Time Interval in seconds is the time period you perform the treatment for each single acupoint. You can set this time longer or shorter depending how you perform the treatment. For an acupuncture student, you may set it so there is enough time to read the description about the point and get familiar with the anatomical location by looking at the Acu-Chart image, or set enough time to remember the information about the point. This will be an enjoyable interactive studying process. If you are an acupuncture teacher, you may give your student the necessary instructions or explanations during this time period while IAA interactively shows the description, indication (healing effects) and illustrates the Acu-Chart image.
Repeat Time is the number of times IAA repeats the vocal recording of the acupoint name / label name. This reminds you to proceed from point to point without trying to remember what is next. This helps you focus on the treatment more, and perform the treatment smoothly. For acupuncture students, this will help you remember the name and learn acupuncture techniques more efficiently and enjoyably. If you are an acupuncture teacher, this will make your teaching easier, more interesting and professional.
