中醫注册、標準和倫理

 吳宇琛

SUM WU

Sum Wu

Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioner

Bachelor of Health Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine (UTS)

Bachelor of Science Majoring in Psychology (UOW)

Specialising in pain management and mental wellbeing through Tradition Chinese medicine in combination with modern science in mental health, dieting and nutrition.

吳宇琛，澳洲政府註冊中醫師、針灸師，五龍崗大學心理學學士、悉尼科技大學中醫系學士，擅長用傳統針灸理傷手法和中藥治療各種新舊損傷痛症，特別採用中醫中藥和現代心理學、營養學相結合調理治療各種慢性病和亞健康。

TCM Registration, Standards and Ethics

中醫注册、標準和倫理

Last episode I talked about some of the regulations and restrictions of the availability and usages or Chinese herbal ingredients and its legality in Australia and this time I want to talk about some of the regulations and restrictions that all TCM practitioners must adhere to in Australia and how to conduct their business within the law.

上一期節目我講了一些關於中草藥品種的可用性和應用及其在澳大利亞的合法性的規定和限制，這次我想談談所有中醫從業者在澳大利亞必須遵守的一些規定和限制以及如何在法律範圍內開展業務。

Like all health practitioners working in Australia, TCM practitioners must follow a set of guidelines that set out the scope of practice as well as topics such as patient privacy and confidentiality laws, ethnics in treatment and advertising etc. For a majority of health practitioners, these guidelines are fairly standard and similar across different health fields but each profession also has their own specific guidelines as well to help practitioners provide the best service and care to their customers.

與所有在澳大利亞工作的醫療健康行業從業者一樣，中醫從業者必須遵循一套指導方針，其中規定了執業範圍以及患者隱私和保密法、治療和廣告中的道德規範等主題。對於大多數醫療健康從業者來說，這些不同健康領域的指南是相當標準且相似的，但每個專業也有自己的具體指南，以幫助從業者向客戶提供最好的服務和護理。

Our health industry is governed by an organisation called Ahpra (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) which is responsible for the implementation of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS). This scheme covers 16 professions which include the following:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners
• Chinese medicine practitioners
• chiropractors
• dental practitioners
• medical radiation practitioners
• medical practitioners
• nurses
• midwives
• occupational therapists
• optometrists
• osteopaths
• paramedics
• pharmacists
• physiotherapists
• podiatrists
• psychologists

我們的健康產業由一個名為Ahpra（澳大利亞健康從業者監管機构）的組織管理，這個組織負責實施國家注册和認證計畫（NRAS）。 該計畫涵蓋16個職業，其中包括：

• 土著和托雷斯海峽島民健康從業者
• 中醫
• 脊椎按摩師
• 牙醫
• 醫療放射從業者
• 醫生
• 護士
• 助產士
• 職業理療師
• 驗光師
• 整骨師
• 醫務輔助人員
• 藥劑師
• 物理治療師
• 足病醫生
• 心理學家

Each profession has a national board that regulates, registers and develops standards and guidelines for their profession and Ahpra oversees these national boards.

每個職業都有一個全國委員會，負責監管、注册和製定其職業的標準和指南，Ahpra負責監督這些全國委員會。

To become a registered TCM practitioner in Australia involves at the minimum a bachelors degree in TCM obtained in Australia, such as the one I received from my studies at UTS, and then registering with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia. Once you have successfully registered with the Board you will be listed as a registered practitioner. What this means is practitioners are allowed to use the following protected titles:

• Chinese medicine practitioner
• acupuncturist
• Chinese herbal medicine practitioner
• Oriental medicine practitioner
• Chinese herbal dispenser

要成為澳大利亞的注册中醫，至少需要在澳大利亞獲得中醫學士學位，比如我在悉尼科技大學學習時獲得的學士學位，然後在澳大利亞中醫委員會注册。一旦成功向委員會注册，就將被列為注册執業者，這意味著從業者可以使用以下受保護的所有權

•中醫師 •針灸師 •中草藥師•東方醫學從業者 •中草藥配藥師

By law unless someone is registered this way, they are not legally allowed to use any of these titles or claim to be a qualified practitioner and will also make it difficult for someone to practice TCM or advertise their services to the community.

根據法律規定，除非有人以這種方式注册，否則他們在法律上不允許使用任何這些頭銜或聲稱自己是合格的執業醫師，並且也不能作為執業中醫或向社區宣傳他們的服務。

There are also a various certifications that must be renewed each year such as professional association memberships (which is required to work with the various health funds or private health insurance) as well as public liability insurances etc. With these on hand a practitioner can begin to provide their services while adhering to the standards set out by Ahpra and the Chinese medicine board.

還有各種必須每年更新的認證，例如專業協會會員資格（與各種健康基金或私人健康保險合作所需）以及公共責任保險等。有了這些，從業者就可以開始提供服務的同時遵守Ahpra和中醫委員會製定的標準。

The NRAS was implemented in 2012 and before then practitioners could work as a TCM practitioner with their overseas qualifications and there was no registration at the time. After 2012 there was a transition period which allowed practitioners holding overseas degrees or equivalent to register as long as the qualification was recognised as adequate for practice by the board or have completed further education in Australia. In some cases where they are unable to complete further studies but there existing qualifications are adequate, they may have been able to register but with conditions attached which may affect the type of services they can provide.

NRAS於2012年實施，在此之前執業者可以憑藉海外資格作為中醫執業者工作，當時沒有註冊。2012年之後有一個過渡期，允許持有海外學位或同等學歷的從業者注册，只要其資格被委員會認可為可以執業或已在澳大利亞完成後續課程。在某些情况下，如果他們無法完成進一步的學習，但現有資格足够，他們可能能够注册，但附加條件可能會影響他們可以提供的服務類型。

The other aspect that all practitioners have to deal with is the ethics and restrictions placed on many health professions when it comes to treating illnesses and advertising.

所有從業者必須處理的另一個方面是許多健康專業在治療疾病和廣告方面受到的道德和限制。

TCM is categorised as an Allied Health profession and is mainly treated as complementary modern Western medicine, or mainstream medicine, and there are significant differences in the scope of what TCM can and cannot do in Australia. The foremost is making therapeutic claims. Often times you will hear people talking about their own positive experiences with TCM or practitioners saying they can cure or treat certain ailments but there is actually a fine line between what can and cannot be legally said in this regard.

中醫被歸類為聯合健康專業，主要被視為現代西醫或主流醫學的補充，在澳大利亞中醫能做什麼和不能做什麼的範圍存在顯著差异，最重要的是提出治療主張。很多時候，你會聽到人們談論他們自己對中醫的積極體驗，或者從業者說他們可以治癒或治療某些疾病，但實際上在這方面可以合法地說什麼和不可以合法說之間存在著微妙的界限。

Any health or therapeutic claims must be backed by scientific evidence so you many notice that any health related professions, not just TCM, may make claims such as relieve symptoms of back pain instead of saying “this can treat or cure back pain” as the legality is that we cannot make these claims according to Ahpra. In reality a registered practitioner may be able to treat the back pain very successfully but they will to say it in a way that satisfies advertising guidelines in Australia. We also cannot make claims that we can cure incurable or terminal diseases such as cancer or HIV etc (these are categorised as proscribed diseases according to our board) but we are able to say we can use TCM to manage symptoms associated with certain diseases or serve as adjunct treatment for IVF etc.

任何健康或治療聲明都必須有科學證據支持，因此您可能會注意到，任何與健康相關的專業人士（不僅僅是中醫）都可能做出諸如緩解背痛症狀之類的聲明，而不是說“這可以治療或治癒背痛”，作為合法性是我們不能根據Ahpra的說法提出這些主張。事實上，注册醫生可能能够非常成功地治療背痛，但他們會以符合澳大利亞廣告準則的方式來表達。我們也不能宣傳我們可以治癒癌症或愛滋病毒等不治之症或絕症（根據我們的委員會，這些疾病被歸類為違禁疾病），但我們可以說我們可以使用中醫來控制與某些疾病相關的症狀或作為IVF（人工受孕）等的輔助治療。

There a many more regulations that TCM practitioners must uphold and while it seems to be heavily regulated and restrictive compared to other countries, in the end it was designed to keep everyone safe and educated as well as maintain a high level of professional standard.

中醫從業者必須遵守更多的法規，雖然與其他國家相比似乎受到嚴格的監管和限制，但最終目的是確保每個人的安全和教育以及保持高水准的專業標準。

如有疑問想咨詢吳宇琛中醫師，可以在微信或whatsapp搜索0404836368，加吳宇琛中醫師微信或whatsapp，也可以發短信或致電0404836368作語音留言，吳宇琛中醫師有空就會回復。

（吳宇琛中醫師，澳洲政府註冊中醫師、針灸師，五龍崗大學心理學學士、悉尼科技大學中醫系學士，悉尼好思维松轩药行主治中医师，本文僅供參考，具體診療應諮詢專業人士。）