Informing nurses of the lived experience of acupuncture treatment: a phenomenological account

Acupuncture is a component of Traditional Chinese Medicine, focusing on a holistic, energy-based approach to the individual, rather than a disease-oriented, diagnostic, and treatment model. Nurses are increasingly involving themselves in the use of acupuncture as practitioners and as supporters of acupuncture in mainstream health care. This project described the lived experience of acupuncture treatment, with specific objectives to: inform nurses of people's experiences of having acupuncture; give nurses the language to explain to patients the experience of having acupuncture; and create possibilities for offering acupuncture as an informed choice of treatment in nursing and health care. The phenomenon of experiencing acupuncture was located within the participants' accounts of what it was like for them before, during, and after treatment.