Continuing education specializations Specialize,
earn CEs and expand your practice
By Amy Mitchell

Continuing education is part of the licensing process in all states except New Jersey. Furthering your knowledge in the areas of basic sciences, clinical arts, case management, philosophy and research earns you credit toward state license renewal.

Postgraduate and continuing education also keeps you on the cutting edge of current clinical concepts, new techniques and other advances relevant to the profession. Now offered in both the traditional classroom setting and online, many of these courses can lead to diplomate status or certification in a specific area.

You have many choices in fulfilling your continuing education requirements — choices in schools, locations, topics and program duration. Chiropractic Economics asked the chiropractic colleges in the United States and Canada to provide information on the more uncommon certification and diplomate programs available today. Below is a sample of programs — some unique — they reported to us, along with a description of their features and benefits to you.

CLINICAL ACUPUNCTURE CERTIFICATE

This program, offered through Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, has the most hands-on hours available in the programs currently offered to chiro-practors. It covers the basic principles and fundamentals of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and provides exposure to Japanese acupuncture, Chinese ear acupuncture and oriental medicine.

The acupuncture certification program meets the standards proposed to the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council of Ontario. Membership in the Acupuncture Council of Ontario is automatic upon completion and allows qualified doctors to cover acu-puncture under the auspices of the Canadian Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Completion also meets the hourly requirements of the World Health Organization standards for acupuncture training.

• Prerequisite: Open to DCs, MDs, NDs, DDSs, PTs and qualified acupuncturists
• Duration: 288 hours
• Schedule: September through May
• Contact: Jaroslaw Grod, director of continuing education, 416-482-2340 ext. 191; www.cmcc.ca

CERTIFICATION IN CHIROPRACTIC FOR ANIMALS

Parker College of Chiropractic is the only chiropractic college to offer a program in animal chiropractic that leads to certification by the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA). Covering animal anatomy, neurology and behavior, its instructor team is comprised of 10 faculty members who are experts in their fields.

Upon completion of the program, chiropractors are equipped to work in close association with veterinarians and offer a service for animals that veterinarians are not trained to do. AVCA certification allows DCs to expand the scope of healthcare for animals in states that permit animal chiropractic.

• Prerequisite: Attendees must be licensed DCs or DVMs, or students of chiropractic or veterinary medicine within six months of graduation
• Duration: six months/220 hours (six modules, one four-day module each month, including 70 hours of hands-on labs)
• Schedule: Spring through fall
• Contact: Michelle Yungblut, director of postgraduate, 800-266-4723; www.postgrad.parkercc.edu.

ELECTRODIAGNOSIS CERTIFICATE

This course, offered through New York Chiropractic College, teaches theory and practice of nerve conduction studies, needle electromyography and evoked potentials; a hands-on approach to electrodiagnosis; and report writing and proper documentation.

Doctors come away with the skills to perform and interpret the findings of these scientifically validated diagnostic procedures and an enhanced ability to diagnose, treat and monitor spinal neurological disorders, including radiculopathies and peripheral neuropathies.

• Prerequisite: DC degree
• Duration: 10 modules, 15 CE hours each, totaling 150 classroom and laboratory hours
• Schedule: March through December 2005 in Levittown, N.Y.; April 2005 through January 2006 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
• Contact: Thomas R Ventimiglia, DC, FACC, director of postgraduate and continuing education, 800-434-3955, ext. 121; www.nycc.edu

WHIPLASH CERTIFICATION

In addition to the latest treatment strategies, the whiplash certification program offered through Logan College of Chiropractic covers the legal aspects of documentation for whiplash, including how to write patient notes, respond to interrogatories, compile narrative reports, give a deposition and appear as an expert witness in court. The final module is taught by an attorney and includes participation in a mock trial.

The program provides doctors with the latest treatment strategies and equips them to handle legal issues associated with this injury.

• Prerequisite: First-level professional degree (DC, MD or DO)
• Duration: 100 hours in eight monthly weekend modules
• Schedule: January through November, at various locations
• Contact: LCC Postgraduate Department, 800-842-3234; or Ralph Barrale, DC, 636-227-2100, ext. 1965; www.logan.edu

PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM PROGRAM

Leading to the Legion of Chiropractic Philosophers award, this program is only offered through the Palmer Institute for Professional Advancement at Palmer College of Chiropractic. The program is designed to enhance the doctor’s understanding of the chiropractic paradigm and how it is evolving within modern science.

The program covers intensive studies of healthcare paradigms, the 33 principles, physics, anatomy, contemporary scientific views of matter and energy, and cell biology. It is also designed to cultivate chiropractic leaders, develop speaking and writing skills and encourage speaking and publishing.

• Prerequisites: A DC degree, master’s degree or higher, and a 10-hour online philosophy tutorium course; non-DC’s earn Associate LCP
• Duration: Approximately 11 months
• Schedule: Approximately October through August, with five 12-hour “live” weekends (in a classroom) and online work between class meetings
• Contact: Tricia Jestel, events manager, 800-452-5032, Tricia.Jestel@palmer.edu. www.palmerinstitute.net

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND APPLIED ERGONOMICS DIPLOMATE

In this introduction to the field of occupational health and industrial consulting at Northwestern Health Sciences University, students work directly with business and industry on occupational safety, evaluation and treatment of injured workers, preventative interventions and employee education.

The program provides a diverse menu of occupational health services, including the provision of Department of Transportation physical exams, drug and alcohol screening and wellness programs, which a doctor of chiropractic can integrate into a traditional practice. Instructors and guest lecturers teach best practices and positive outcomes.

Completion of the program allows a practitioner to apply to sit for the American Chiropractic Board on Occupational Health exam and join the American Chiropractic Association’s Council on Occupational Health, one of the specialty councils of the American Chiropractic Association.

The diplomate program allows doctors to develop expertise in the area in which industrial workers injure themselves most frequently — low back injuries and upper extremity disorders, including carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis. The program also trains them to design safer work areas (ergonomics), enhance human efficiency and well-being, and decrease neuromusculoskeletal-related injuries in the workplace.

• Prerequisite: DC degree
• Duration: 360 hours (three phases of 120 hrs. each), over a three-year period
• Schedule: Once per month over a period of 10 sessions in each of the first and second years; three class meetings in the third year; independent project with a mentor to set up a consulting project with an industry or develop a research project
• Contact: Diana L. Berg, director of continuing education, 800-888-4777, ext. 249, dberg@nwhealth.edu; Joseph Sweere, DC, DABCO, DACBOH, FICC, director, Department of Occupational Health, 800-888-4777, ext. 269, jsweere@nwhealth.edu. Additional resources are available from the nonprofit International Academy of Chiropractic Occupational Health Consultants at 507-455-1025.

UPPER CERVICAL DIPLOMATE (DUCDP)

This program from Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic covers anatomy, neurology, biomechanics and research in the area of upper-cervical subluxations. It provides instruction on traditional x-ray procedures as well as those specific to upper-cervical techniques.

Doctors of chiropractic become certified in the specialty area of upper cervical subluxation-centered care. Their patients and their practices benefit from the doctors’ enhanced upper-cervical clinical skills and deepened knowledge of the upper-cervical spine.

• Prerequisites: DC degree
• Duration: 300 hours total (180-hour academic module consists of 15 twelve-hour modules — five live sessions, 10 distance-learning; 120-hour technique module consists of training in an approved upper cervical technique of your choice)
• Schedule: Varies each year; call for dates and details
• Contact: Rebecca Clusserath, director of continuing education, 800-849-8771; www.sherman.edu

Amy Mitchell is assistant editor for Chiropractic Economics. She can be contacted at amitchell@chiroeco.com.