CA certification Enhancing the profession
By Pat Atanas

One of the greatest challenges in our profession is finding and retaining a good office team.

Successful employers know that when they invest in their teams, quality individuals emerge who are more productive, present a professional image and experience greater job satisfaction.

For the chiropractic office, well-trained chiropractic assistants are essential. Professional development through respected and accredited organizations can enable your staff to be more productive and committed and to reflect positively on your practice.

WHAT DOES CERTIFICATION MEAN?

Not all certifications are equal. In the chiropractic profession, the term “certified” often designates that a person has completed a training program but the certificate does not necessarily mean that the graduate has become licensed by a state board.

For example: Some programs refer to their graduates as being certified when these students have merely earned a certificate of completion.

In this case, students learn the fundamentals of running a chiropractic practice — excellent training — but that training is not recognized by a state board. These CAs are not state-certified and the duties they can perform may be limited legally.

STATE CERTIFICATION

States that offer CA certification set standards in a number of different areas pertaining to practice management. State standards generally include completing courses in procedures and protocols; terminology, charting and communication; chiropractic philosophy; insurance coding; x-rays; and other topics suited to chiropractic assisting.

A state’s requirements for CA certification may also involve earning a specific number of credit hours and performing hands-on work in addition to passing an exam.

Some states also mandate certification for staff working directly with the diagnosis and treatment of patients and require continuing education credits to maintain certified status.

WHY ADDRESS THIS ISSUE?

In addition to meeting the letter of the law, providing certified training to your staff offers additional benefits:

• Learning opportunity. The opportunity to learn new skills and knowledge makes the job more attractiveto potential employees.

• Job enrichment. Well-trained CAs are competent paraprofessionals who can handle things while you, the doctor, care for more patients. This increases their value to your practice, which is why we must continually find ways to hire and retain quality staff who want to be involved in our dynamic profession and help grow our practice.

• Improved team. The most successful chiropractors have people surrounding them who understand the philosophy and embrace the benefits of chiropractic care. They are growing in their chiropractic knowledge and skills and become more appreciative of the chiropractic profession. Well-trained CAs have a sense of direction and are more apt to take ownership of their roles and responsibilities than those who have not been trained.

• Professional recognition. Certification is a professional achievement. CAs who achieve it should be recognized as more than clerical staff.

Your CAs represent your own professional standards. Surround yourself with professional CAs — make chiropractic assistant mean a professional who is trained in all aspects necessary to perform the appropriate tasks and someone who is dedicated to the chiropractic profession.

Pat Atanas is a veteran teacher and motivator in the natural health field. She is a frequent presenter at Parker Seminars on subjects of particular interest to chiropractic assistants and teaches online CA classes for Parker College of Chiropractic. She may be contacted at 800-770-0344 or by e-mail, patatan@aol.com.