【Traditional Chinese Medicine】Acupuncture and moxibustion in Canada (1)

Recap

 I have completed several exams for acupuncturists recently. I would like to share with you how to get a license for acupuncturists, Chinese pharmacists or Chinese medicine practitioners in Canada while the review memory is still fresh. It will be divided into exam qualifications, exam preparation, and Apply for a license to share with everyone.
Then I am currently an acupuncturist myself, so the following review content and the examination process are mainly based on acupuncturists. And because I am in Vancouver, the regulations of British Columbia are the main ones (links to other provincial acupuncture associations will be added at the end.)

Who can take the test? (Exam Qualification)

The exam is basically enough to take the exam. However, when applying for an acupuncture license, a valid work visa or immigration document is required.

Then, there are three cases of education

1. Graduated from a Chinese medicine school in British Columbia
2. Graduated from another province in Canada
3. Graduated from a country other than Canada (such as Taiwan, China, etc.)

Then 1 and 2 kinds of certification qualifications are very simple, the school's official transcript and graduation certificate can be directly sent to the association. For those who have completed a Chinese medicine degree abroad, they need to obtain an ICES-certified degree from BCIT in British Columbia, which takes one month when all official documents are complete.

Website: https://www.bcit.ca/ices/

Secondly, the Chinese Medicine Association of British Columbia also specifically requires that in addition to the basic three-year acupuncture (or Chinese medicine) training, there should be two years of Liberal Arts credits. Although it is said to be "liberal arts" here, I have written to ask that any college education credits are acceptable. If the two-year credits are completed abroad, they also need to be certified. Therefore, if I studied Chinese medicine for five years in Beijing, I meet the above requirements and can take the acupuncture (or Chinese pharmacist) license.

What licenses are available?

Maybe the previous paragraph mentioned that I can be an acupuncturist or a Chinese pharmacist. Everyone is a little puzzled. Is it possible that I can test whatever I study? Then here we will first explain several Chinese medicine titles in British Columbia.

British Columbia is currently the only province with titles other than acupuncturists.

• Registered Acupuncturist R.Ac.
• Registered Chinese Pharmacist R.TCM.H.
• Registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Physician R.TCM.P.
• Senior Chinese Physician Dr.TCM

Then the examinations and academic qualifications required by these four titles are in a progressive relationship. Basically, both acupuncturists and Chinese pharmacists are 3+2. Chinese medicine practitioners need to study for one more year, and senior Chinese medicine practitioners need to study for another year. I am a five-year undergraduate of Chinese medicine, so I can choose between acupuncture and Chinese medicine. If the undergraduate is acupuncture or Chinese medicine, then I can only take the corresponding license.

You can refer to this https://www.ctcma.bc.ca/media/1403/five-year-tcm-degree-policy.pdf

Exam requirements for different titles can refer to this

What exams are required?

Yes, you don't have to take one exam to get a license. You need to take three exams in total.

respectively

• Pan-Canadian Entry-Level Examinations
• CTCMA Jurisprudence Exam
• CTCMA Safety Exam

Then the first exam is almost unified across the country (including BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland), so if you are a small partner in these provinces, you can refer to my second article for the content and experience of preparing for this exam!

Jurisprudence and security exams are also taken in most provinces, but the format of the exams is not uniform. In BC, it is a closed-book legal exam and a safe open-book exam. Alberta is both closed books. I heard that Ontario is an open book test. The content should be similar. After all, these are also tested in the national qualification examination, and most of the content should be unified.

The National Qualification Examination is the examination of professional content, the most expensive (1000 Canadian dollars for registration and examination fee), the most content and the most difficult (this is of course) the examination time is only twice a year (April and October), and in advance It takes three months to register, and when you register, the previous academic certification must be completed. So after all, it takes four to five months to start preparing. If it is a fresh graduate in June, I think it is very difficult to take the exam in October.

For the law and security exam, the registration fee is relatively cheap, and the content is relatively common sense. Registration time Although the official website also recommends to register one to two months in advance, but the personal test can be booked in one to two weeks.

 Small suggestion: I personally take the law exam first, and then take the national exam. After the national exam is completed, it is safe to take the exam in one week. But after writing the papers for the national exam, I found that they put a lot of related questions in the national qualification exam, so I suggest that everyone can arrange the legal and safe exam time before the national exam, so that you will force yourself. Review those and get a general idea of what questions they take.

Related Links

BC Acupuncture Association official website https://www.ctcma.bc.ca/

National Qualifying Exam Candidate Handbook http://carb-tcmpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CARB-TCMPA-Candidate-Handbook.pdf

The official website of Alberta Acupuncture Association http://acupuncturealberta.ca/

Official website of Ontario Acupuncture Association https://www.ctcmpao.on.ca/

Epilogue

I will try my best to finish the next two articles (exam preparation article and license application article) in the next week. If you have any questions or thoughts, please share with us!