Since Chinese medicine treats the whole patient, not just the condition, each treatment is individualized. There are instances where more traditional Western medicine is the treatment of choice, including life threatening infection, severe trauma, or the need for surgical procedures, such as open heart surgery. In China, this understanding has led to the practice of both systems side by side, with the strengths of each system complementing the weaknesses of the other. Acupuncture used in conjunction with Western procedures can speed the recovery and rebalancing of the individual. In China, acupuncture is routinely used for anesthesia in some types of major surgical procedures.
Caution is advised for the use of electrical acupuncture in patients with cardiac pacemakers .
The United States Food and Drug Administration regulates acupuncture needles along with other medical devices such as surgical scalpels and hypodermic syringes, requiring good manufacturing practices and single-use standards of sterility. Needle insertion is considered an invasive procedure. Although the American Association of Medical Colleges reports that no medical school in the United States provides acupuncture training, some chiropractic schools have elective 200 hour programs. The American Holistic Medical Association has developed a 300 hour program for physicians, although some experts in the field feel that these programs do not allow for full mastery of the materials and skills involved. Several programs located throughout the country offer rigorous comprehensive preparation that may take as long as 36 months and include a clinical residency, with 500 hours of supervised clinical work before licensure is granted.