Medical acupuncture is a medical discipline having a central core of knowledge embracing the integration of acupuncture from various traditions into contemporary biomedical practice. A Physician Acupuncturist is one who has acquired specialized knowledge and experience related to the integration of acupuncture within a biomedicine practice.

The World Health Organization and the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) have promulgated acupuncture training and education standards for Western trained physicians. Those standards were first adopted in Beijing, China in 1987 and reaffirmed at the WFAS conference in Milan, Italy in 1996. These are considered to reflect the minimum level of training necessary for a Western trained physician to enter the practice of medical acupuncture. The WHO standards for physician acupuncture practitioners are as follows: