A Behind the Scenes Look at Auriculo 3D 5/5 (42)

A little bit of history:

One of my first assignments at Miridia Technology two years ago was researching points for auriculotherapy. I loved working on this project! I have continued my research on auriculotherapy for more than two years, which is a far cry from the simple 28-hour course that I took in college.

I have developed a great love for auriculotherapy. I use it with every patient, I teach practitioners how to utilize it in their clinic on almost a daily basis, and my personal practice is more successful because of it.

I’m really lucky to work shoulder to shoulder with the guys here at Miridia who do such an amazing job with programming, graphic design, and marketing. Once we released Auriculo 2, I immediately began making my list of things that I would love to see in the future.

This list was compiled because of many of my own needs as a practitioner in my personal practice, and also from your phone calls and suggestions. I know that Kimball (our head programmer) was really happy when Auriculo 3D was done. He kept telling everyone in the office to quit bugging him so that he could make all of the changes on Kimberly’s list of requests.

Every day I had new ideas on how to make the program better. I’d walk into Kimball’s office and tell him what I had in mind and ask him how hard it would be to do. He would give me a long list of why my idea just wouldn’t work. After several days of mulling it over, he would come up with a way to make it happen. I love that about Kimball! And then, I would come back with another idea… I remember a conversation that he and I had several weeks ago. His final statement to me was: “This is the LAST change that we can make in the program. No more!”  Of course, I was able to get a few more in after that, but I do have to admit that those came at a cost!

Dr. Larsen and I spent hours, upon hours, discussing exact point locations. One week he and I completely took over the conference room. We started out with a big poster of the ear with every point. We tediously looked up each point to make sure that our locations were correct.

We started off with a printout of the ear with points and a lot of notes. Kimball then developed a program so that he could project the ear onto the dry erase board and move points on the spot without having to send the edits back to him.

You can tell by this picture that it had been a very LONG day. When you go to bed at night dreaming about big ears with blue circles and green triangles, you know that you have been putting in too many hours!

In today’s blog, I would like to share with you some of the amazing features of the Auriculo 3D program, how they came about and how I am currently utilizing these resources in my private practice. Dr. Larsen is the mastermind behind the original Auriculo PC program. I imagined having this type of resource when I was in college but had no idea that I would someday have the blessing of working with such a group of incredibly innovative people and helping to make it happen.

1. All of the points on one ear:

When Auriculo 2 was completed, I knew that we had a program that was valuable to the practitioner, but I was always disappointed that I couldn’t see all of the points on the ear in one location. The reason this was important to me as an auricular therapist is that I wanted to be able to look at the abnormalities on my patient’s ear and come up with a logical explanation for my findings. Here is an example of the type of ear that I wanted to be able to analyze. Notice the many spider veins that show up in the superior concha.

This type of analysis was almost impossible in Auriculo 2 because I could only look at one point at a time. I wanted to see each point in comparison to the other points. You are going to love looking at the interactive ear. All of the points are in one place for easy analysis. If you hover over any point in Auriculo 3D, the name and description of that point will immediately appear.

In our Ear Cure Book, we have added a blank left and right ear to take a comprehensive ear evaluation. This is a great addition because you can keep track of your patients progress. Patients love it when you can tell them what is going on in their body based on what you find in their ear. (FYI: I came up with the idea to print out a blank ear from the program but is was AFTER the above-mentioned conversation with Kimball. But, I can tell you that I have been told that this can be added in the near future. For now, we have included it in the Ear Cure Book for easy printing. It’s the best that I could do under the circumstances.)

2. Three dimensional:

Take a look at a protocol such as Dysmenorrhea. This is a common complaint in a TCM practice. The two-dimensional picture was helpful because it put all of the points on one chart, but when you look at this protocol in 3D you can see exactly where to locate points underneath the antitragus and the helix. Understanding exactly where the points are will make your treatment more effective. And, it is a really cool feature to share with your patients.

3. Add your own point:

I can’t tell you how many phone calls I get from practitioners who have learned a “new” point for auriculotherapy that they want us to add to the program. They learn it at a seminar and swear that this “new” point would be perfect to add to our program. We decided that the best way to fix this problem was to allow YOU, the practitioner, to add your own custom point. Once you create the point, you can put it into any protocol that you wish.

Sometimes we also get phone calls from practitioners who want us to move a point because they have found that treatment is more effective if the location is slightly different from the location which we have chosen for the program. With Auriculo 3D you can easily customize point locations and add your own original name. You can also customize point information and easily access your data later through our search option.

4. Add your own protocol:

Sometimes I want to send my patients home with a laser so that they can treat their own points or points on their children. I can create a custom protocol for these patients and name them accordingly. Once the custom protocol is created, I can print the ear out for my patient to self-treat at home or I can easily bring up their protocol for future visits in my office. And, yes, when I create that custom protocol, I can add any custom points that I have created. My possibilities are unlimited.

5. And finally–the incredibly awesome ear chart!

When I was in college, I did an extra credit assignment at the end of the class. I enlarged an ear to the size of a 2 foot by 4-foot poster. Then I put every auricular point that I had learned in class on the ear and laminated it. For a long time, I used that homemade chart in my clinic. When I started here at Miridia I brought in my chart and asked the guys if we could create something like it–but with all of the points that were in Auriculo 2. They told me: “NO WAY!” because it would be too hard to put all of the points on one ear and make it usable.

Well, I kept pushing my idea and convinced them that we could make the best ear chart ever. And does it surprise you? We did! Our ear chart is incredibly awesome and I am so excited to have it hanging on the wall in my clinic. Our new ear chart is much better than the one that I created in college. Take a look for yourself…

There are two reasons why I love having the chart up on the wall. First–it’s beautiful and functional too. Second–my patients always ask questions. They are surprised to see how many ailments can be treated on the ear. They leave my office with a great conversation piece and this results in referrals to my practice. You just can’t go wrong with our new wall chart.

I was so excited when the first one printed that I asked everyone involved in this huge creation process to sign the back. Yes, I know that I’m a little biased, but I believe that Miridia Technology will soon be very famous because we have the best ear chart on the market.

I hope that you have enjoyed getting to know some of the personalities here at Miridia. We have some incredibly talented individuals here in our office. Once everything ships out this week, I think I’ll talk Adrian into buying us all lunch.

Have a great week everyone! I can’t wait to hear what you think about the new program. Here’s a quick video to learn more about it! Click on the button below to see all of our packages and simply select the one you want.

I look forward to hearing what you think of all of our hard work!

…………………….   

Kimberly Thompson, L.Ac.

Acupuncture Research Analyst

Miridia Technology Inc.