Integration of Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM) Students in a Trauma Center's Acute Pain Service: In-Person and Remote Training and Patient Care.

Objective: Evidence of effectiveness and demand for acupuncture to treat acute pain conditions is growing, as is the need for acupuncturists trained to deliver patient care in a hospital setting. This articles describes collaboration between Bastyr University and Harborview Medical Center to incorporate Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM) students into a trauma hospital setting. Materials and Methods: A model was developed to integrate DAOM students into an Anesthesiology Acute Pain Service to provide acupuncture to postoperative inpatients. That in-person model pivoted to remote student education and patient self-care education during the COVID 19 outbreak. A review was conducted of 323 consecutive patients who received acupuncture while they were hospitalized. Results: The review of 323 consecutive patients who received acupuncture for pain during their hospital admission indicated that as few as one acupuncture treatment resulted in clinically significant benefits. No serious complications or safety concerns were reported. Conclusions: Collaboration between academic and clinical programs can provide the structure to integrate acupuncture into hospital settings safely and with benefit to patients and students.

Stepping up for operation moonshot – mass spectrometry testing for COVID 19

In September 2020, the UK government announced Operation Moonshot;the remit being to increase testing capacity for COVID 19. Amongst the diagnostic platforms to be considered was mass spectrometry. To facilitate this, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) brought together and funded academic mass spectrometry (P1) and specialist NHS laboratories (P2) across the UK.With regards to the latter, the GOSH Enzyme Lab and the Neurometabolic Unit (National Hospital) were identified as a P2 grouping that would collaborate with the mass spectrometry unit at the UCL Institute of Child Health (P1 – Head Prof K Mills). This P1 lab developed a unique proteomic approach to measure diagnostic proteins associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.This method was transferred over to our NHS labs for full validation. Rapid progress was made and the DHSC identified us as a ‘vanguard lab’. Within 6 months of commencement of the project, a validated method was developed that had excellent agreement with PCR testing.Our data was used in presentations throughout the DHSC and for briefing of government ministers. Despite the pressures of the pandemic, our NHS staff went above and beyond to deliver on time.Furthermore, close working with an academic partner provided a proof of principle example whereby state of the art mass spectrometry-based methods can successfully be translated across into the NHS environment.