There is a need to improve pre professional education for chiropractors.
Universities or private colleges?
Chiropractic education should where possible be conducted at universities and this does not mean small single purpose institutions that are deemed universities in name only. Why is this recommended? Primarily because unlike some private colleges, government funded universities insist on intellectual evidence based rigour in their learning and teaching and importantly require staff to be research active. Chiropractic courses need to have an underpinning pedagogy that insists that content is taught in the context of the evidence and that students obtain the necessary training to question and critically appraise.
Private colleges and programs such as we see in the USA and other countries do not usually require all staff to produce high quality research nor can they typically grant higher degrees by way of research such as Doctorates in Philosophy (PhDs). It can be argued that this phenomenon is partially the reason for the poor research output legacy from the USA that has left the profession in a parlous state regarding the body of knowledge that underpins what it does and does not do. It is worth reflecting on the increase in knowledge the profession would now enjoy if all chiropractic academic staff worldwide were research active.
Accreditation problems
Underpinning chiropractic education is program accreditation and this is also in need of review particularly where vitalistic subluxation based courses have been legitimised by the accreditation process. The question needing to be posed is “if colleges espouse to graduate subluxation based chiropractors how can they legitimately achieve accreditation?” I postulate that it is self-evident that there must be something wrong with an accreditation system that allows this to happen regardless of how worthy the institution is in other ways.
Hospital training
Chiropractic education should also involve specifically relevant hospital access or work experience such as hospital rounds so that students can observe patients that are truly unwell and observe the signs and symptoms taught in their theory classes. Hospital rounds would also allow chiropractic students to interact with other health providers and increase the likelihood of legitimate partnership and respect between health professions.
Who should teach chiropractic students?
The faculty of teachers of chiropractic students’ needs to be multi-disciplinary with medical doctors, physiotherapists and other allied health personnel involved in their education. Simply put teachers of chiropractic students should be the most skilled and experienced in the content area involved.