Yo San University currently has two exciting research projects underway. One project has been undertaken with the cooperation of our externship site, Premiere Oncology, in Santa Monica, and the other with our externship site, Being Alive, in West Hollywood.
The projects are designed to assess the impact of acupuncture services in our work with oncology and with HIV positive patients. The proposals for both projects were reviewed and approved by the Yo San University Institutional Review Board to assure that the procedures involved engaged appropriate human subjects ethical consideration. While each project is distinct, the method and procedures for each are similar in that the research data collection will be engaged entirely from the review of existing clinical files. For each project a research protocol/ data entry sheet was designed that includes basic demographic data as well as reported symptoms, number of treatments, acupuncture points used in each treatment and a rating regarding the patient’s self reported status subsequent to the treatment.
Yo San University students have been engaged to complete data collection through a thorough review of the file charts. Standard statistical procedures will be used to analyze the resulting data. Both projects are considered “preliminary” research and do not atempt to incorporate the rigorous controls that are necessary in clinical trials research models.
Nonetheless the findings of these two important research endeavors can pave the way for further, more focused research activities.
