Investigation and Analysis of the Key Objectives of WFAS “Technical Specifications of Acupuncture and Moxibustion: General Rules for the Drafting”

OBJECTIVE: To determine the key objectives of WFAS “Technical Specifications of Acupuncture and Moxibustion: General Rules for the Drafting” (hereinafter referred to as General Rules). METHODS: From the medical institutions, colleges, and scientific research organizations at major levels in China and overseas, leading researchers and experts in the field of acupuncture-moxibustion standardization, as well as some experienced foreign specialists in acupuncture-moxibustion, were selected as the respondents. The questionnaire was prepared by using the website of Questionnaire Star, and 60 links of the questionnaire were sent out through e-mail. Excel was used to set up the database and conduct statistical analysis. RESULTS: Fifty-one valid questionnaires were collected with effective recovery rate of 85%, involving 9 countries (China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, United States, and Canada) from 3 continents. Most experts agreed with us on the target people, structural elements, and text structure proposed in General Rules and held that the General Rules should emphasize the safety and international applicability and should stipulate in details the common problems (contraindications, indications, taboo crowd, target people, therapeutic effects) of various techniques and the specific contents of technical operation (manipulating techniques, selection of patient's body position and treated areas, disinfection and environmental requirements, selection of acupuncture-moxibustion instruments, cautions, needle retention time, treatment frequency, precise location of the acupoints, treatment course) in order to enhance the practicality and operability. CONCLUSION: The key objectives of General Rules mainly include target people, structural elements, text structure, safety requirements, common technical problems of acupuncture-moxibustion, and specific details of technical manipulations.