By. Johanna Biemans, MSc
After a 4 years struggle the NVA ( Dutch Society for Acupuncture) finally managed to establish a recognition for Oncology Acupuncturists. In 2019 two members of the NVA were contacted by Dr. Ines Von Rosenstiel, a paediatrician from Rijnstate Hospital, to be part of the initiative to get Integrative Oncology on the agenda which implicated to create a database of evidence based complementary medicines to inform the cancer patient in a proper manner. From the very start the NVA was involved. A working group was installed with a twofold aim.
- Identify the indications in cancer patients where acupuncture has an evidence base. The results where accepted and published on this website:
- Set up criteria to guarantee the qualification of acupuncturists to work with cancer patients. This was a requirement for the implementation in the referral guide of IKNL* (Integrative Cancer Netherlands).
In order to not be surpassed by our colleagues in the complementary field( e.g. yoga, mindfulness, massage therapists were all on the path of recognition)., we decided to define criteria and thus a specialisation was born: the Oncology Acupuncturist. At this point we had a great help from the international movement of Integrative Oncology, that provided us with conditions for education standards. After setting up these criteria and the acceptance by the board of the NVA, we still had to convince the IKNL team. After many rounds of refusal, we finally got a green light!. The key really was a constant lobbying and pushing from our side. All thanks to our dedicated members and the help from Rijnstate Hospital.
As for today the NVA has 15 acupuncturists who qualify for this specialisation. And we expect a lot more in the nearby future. Obviously the NVA created a new responsibility because this group of ‘specialists’ will need ongoing education as well as the requirements of basic education. At this moment the NVA is therefore developing a module that provides the basic necessary knowledge aligned with the Dutch Healthcare system.
Integraal Kankercentrum Nederland (IKNL) is an independent knowledge institute for oncological and palliative care. IKNL’39;s mission is to reduce the impact of cancer. We accomplish this based on insights from real-world data in the Dutch Cancer Registry (NKR).
