Acupuncturist job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

16

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 5 of 5

extensive preparation

Typical entry education

Master's degree

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$76,040

BLS May 2025

1. Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures. importance 5.0 of 5
2. Treat patients using tools, such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements. importance 4.9 of 5
3. Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes. importance 4.9 of 5
4. Develop individual treatment plans and strategies. importance 4.9 of 5
5. Insert needles to provide acupuncture treatment. importance 4.9 of 5
6. Evaluate treatment outcomes and recommend new or altered treatments as necessary to further promote, restore, or maintain health. importance 4.7 of 5
7. Collect medical histories and general health and lifestyle information from patients. importance 4.7 of 5
8. Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses. importance 4.6 of 5
9. Educate patients on topics, such as meditation, ergonomics, stretching, exercise, nutrition, the healing process, breathing, or relaxation techniques. importance 4.5 of 5
10. Assess patients' general physical appearance to make diagnoses. importance 4.4 of 5
11. Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions. importance 4.4 of 5
12. Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals. importance 4.3 of 5
13. Dispense herbal formulas and inform patients of dosages and frequencies, treatment duration, possible side effects, and drug interactions. importance 4.0 of 5
14. Apply heat or cold therapy to patients using materials, such as heat pads, hydrocollator packs, warm compresses, cold compresses, heat lamps, or vapor coolants. importance 3.9 of 5
15. Formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties, such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities. importance 3.7 of 5
16. Treat medical conditions, using techniques such as acupressure, shiatsu, or tuina. importance 3.6 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Assisting and Caring for Others, Documenting/Recording Information, Getting Information, Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge and Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships.

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry, Psychology, Biology and English Language.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, AcuPartner Professional. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists a master's degree as the typical entry-level education.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists no typical on-the-job training once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 5 of 5 (extensive preparation). Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become an acupuncturist.

Most O*NET's occupation experts for this occupation (68%) name a master's degree as the education the job requires.

Job title: Acupuncturist
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring an Acupuncturist to diagnose, treat, and prevent disorders by stimulating specific acupuncture points within the body using acupuncture needles.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures.
- Treat patients using tools, such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements.
- Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes.
- Develop individual treatment plans and strategies.
- Insert needles to provide acupuncture treatment.
- Evaluate treatment outcomes and recommend new or altered treatments as necessary to further promote, restore, or maintain health.
- Collect medical histories and general health and lifestyle information from patients.
- Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists a master's degree as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in active listening, social perceptiveness and service orientation
- Working knowledge of Customer and Personal Service and Medicine and Dentistry
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Office software]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

The median annual wage was $76,040 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $36.56. BLS estimates about 7,830 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of acupuncturists to grow 8.6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 800 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full acupuncturist salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real acupuncturist posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only acupuncturist work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (active listening and social perceptiveness).