Exceptional Clinical Training

Learn by Doing

Clinical training is a critical component of every program at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine. The founders of the school believe that effective clinicians are best trained through a combination of rigorous academic work placed firmly in the context of patient care. To achieve this goal, we have developed multiple clinical opportunities for our students. In each setting, students work with practitioners who have a minimum of ten years of clinical experience.

Through SIEAM's own teaching clinic and through external sites, students see a significant number of patients from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and medical complaints. Over the course of the clinical training, student interns develop into effective clinicians.

Acupuncture practice has varied throughout history and today, the methods of engagement are no less diverse. 

SIEAM’s faculty represents expertise in varied approaches to assessment and treatment. Students learn diverse methods of palpation assessment, acupuncture techniques, and other related interventions. Through classroom and clinical experiences with our experienced faculty, students create a rich“toolbox” of approaches to treatment. Having knowledge and clinical experience using these varied techniques means that our graduates are able to adjust techniques to the needs of the patients and address difficult-to-treat concerns with flexibility. The development of these skills may be one of the reasons why so many of our graduates remain in active clinical practice, year after year.

The SIEAM curriculum places an emphasis on developing clinical skills in several styles of Asian bodywork, including Tui Na and Shiatsu.  During each trimester of the first year of the program, students receive classroom instruction while simultaneously participating in a Bodywork Internship in the SIEAM clinic.  This allows students to develop expertise in these areas and to gain valuable clinical exposure by immediately applying what they are learning to patient care under the supervision of an experienced faculty member.  

Students begin learning Chinese herbal medicine as soon as they enter our program. In the first year, all students are introduced to the study of Chinese herbs and formulas, Chinese medical classics and Chinese medical language. Students who choose to enter the MS.Ac.O.M./D.A.H.M. program will begin a more detailed and thorough instruction in in these topics during their second year.  Students participate in weekly clinical preceptorships with experienced herbalists on the SIEAM faculty and assist in the herbal dispensary preparing herbal formulations and learning how to manage an herbal pharmacy.

Unique to SIEAM’s curriculum is the completion of a three-year study of Chinese Medical Language & Classics. Students begin in the first year, developing basic vocabulary and reading short selections from the medical Classics. Starting in the second year of the program, students work with Chinese-language materials, classical and modern, to enhance their understanding of herbal medicine theory and its clinical application.  Accessing, translating and discussing information obtained from these texts provides the student with a rich understanding of diagnostic nuances and treatment strategies not commonly found in the English language literature.  

Students completing the D.A.H.M. will have an opportunity to further develop all these skills in relation to a chosen topic relevant to their clinical practice interests.  

Our Teaching Clinic

Treatment is provided by faculty during preceptorship clinics and by student interns during all of our other clinics. Student intern clinics may offer any combination of acupuncture, massage, or Chinese herbal medicine. Our teaching clinic and our classrooms are located in the same building.

Patients can make appointments by calling our clinic or using our online scheduling page. The SIEAM Teaching Clinic is run by our partner organization, the Center for Integrated Care, which is a 501c3 charitable organization.

External Sites

During the third year, student clinicians are assigned shifts at the following locations. Treating patients at these sites not only introduce students to various ways acupuncture is practiced around Seattle, but it also offers students the opportunity to work with a diverse patient population not seen in the teaching clinic.

Asian Counseling and Referral Service

Low-cost treatment is provided for a wide range of clients, including those from the Pacific Rim region. Treatment may include acupuncture, massage, and Chinese herbal medicine.

Evergreen Treatment Services

Treatment is provided in a group setting for clients going through treatment for addictions. These treatments are focused on auricular (ear) acupuncture.