The Boston Medical Center is launching a new program to provide acupuncture to approximately 1,600 people living with HIV/AIDS each year.
"Through medical advances, HIV/AIDS has been transformed from a terminal diagnosis to a chronic disease that can be managed," said Katherine Gergen Barnett, MD, clinical director of the Program for Integrative Medicine and Healthcare Disparities at BMC. "As patients live longer and grow older, there is even a greater need to improve their quality of life."
According to Dr. Barnett, acupuncture has been found to help relieve HIV/AIDS symptoms and medication side effects, including nausea, pain, neuropathy, fatigue and headaches.
The program — made available through the hospital's departments of family medicine and infectious diseases and Program for Integrative Medicine and Healthcare Disparities — will accept referrals from the community.
The acupuncture program at BMC will use a group therapy model of care, meaning between seven and eight patients will receive treatment in the same room, at the same time. Patients will enter and leave the therapy on a rolling basis and have a few additional minutes of one-on-one time with providers.
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