My Journey of becoming a TCM Physician Series: An Old-Looking TCM Physician may not be an Experienced One, A MSc/PhD Title may just be an Empty Shell

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When people look at a young TCM doctor, though unspoken, the thought bubble of “young but inexperience” always naturally lingers in the air. I, having to fall under the “young doctors category” in addition to the overly anti-aging magic I worked on myself, cannot miss to experience that too countless times in my more than a decade long practice.

The stigmatized old-fashioned thinking that “TCM doctors should be old to be good” is but a totally erroneous and deluded impression that the old dogma of society has built up. Yes, experience is built up over time, but it is absolutely not definite that the TCM doctor is white haired and wrinkled is a good doctor.

First, let me bring you behind the scenes of how the training journey is like for one to become a TCM doctor (in the Asian/my country context) and also share with you my journey of how I become who I am today (in part 2).

1.       To become a TCM Physician, the basic training is 5 years full time at the varsity level. In some private institutes, they offer the 7 year part time education (which caters for people who are middle age and may be working in other jobs). At the end of 5 years, you get a Bachelor degree which just means you are well verse in theory. Practical training at these private institutes are minimal, only to do mostly OBSERVATIONS ONLY in the clinics, because you are NOT LEGALLY LICENSED YET to practice on patients.

2.       After getting the Bachelor degree you can opt to go for the Licensing exam which will grant you the green card to start practicing on patients.

3.       Any further studies say Masters and Doctorate done in the local institutes are still only theory based as all you have to do is satisfy the module requirements and then churn out a thesis. The degree although is affiliated with a China TCM University School, the only part that they play is they provide the professors with the necessary titles as a ‘dummy mentor’ to qualify for the requirements for thesis defence formalities at the end of the post graduate studies. The post grads may only come into contact with their mentors once or twice a year just to discuss on the thesis topics and writings.

From these rough narration of the journey to obtain the necessary qualifications and license to become a TCM Physician, a few loopholes can be identified to reveal the real ability of the TCM doctor.

Loophole 1: Because part time education is available, a lot of middle to old age people may attend the course and if they endure through the 5 or 7 years training and successfully made the career switch, they can step out as a TCM physician. Physical appearance: OLD. Experience: FRESH GRAD LEVEL. So do you still think OLD LOOKING is equivalent to EXPERIENCED?

Loophole 2: Post grad specialization is meant to further trained you up in your clinical skills. In the above context, should you not know how and where this doctor holding a Masters or Doctorate degree is trained, do you think you are getting someone really authentic in their learning journey or just a mere title?

TCM(Traditional Chin Med)Xiang Jun LimTCM, journey, old, young, tcm practitioner, physician, stigma, post grad, studies