Council on Chiropractic Education ignores input from profession on standards

January 25, 2011 — A report by Dr. Steven Welsh of the Georgia Chiropractic Council (GCC) indicates that the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) has seemingly ignored the overwhelming input from the profession at large.

In September 2010, the CCE Task Force on Accreditation Standards released a second draft to the public for comments. At the latest meeting Jan. 14, the CCE met and adopted new educational standards that will become effective in January of next year.

Welsh, who attended the public proceedings, reports that the CCE President announced that the Council had received two complaints.  No details were provided.  Council members were reminded of the need for complete confidentiality.  In October 2010, it was reported by Welsh that the CCE had received approximately 3,000 submissions from the profession.

During their annual business meeting last Friday, the CCE reviewed and approved the 3rd draft submitted by the Task Force, which included multiple amendments by individual council members. One proposed amendment was not approved by the council.  Based on feedback from the chiropractic profession, Dr. Guy Riekeman suggested that the new standards include a reference to the foundational concepts upon which our profession is based.  According to Welsh, those are that:

The core content, or topics of study, on a foundational basis include:

1. The human body is intelligent and is a self-healing, maintaining, and regenerating organism.

2. The nervous system is critical to the healthy functioning and adaption of the organism.

3. Dysfunction of the relationship between structure, primarily of the spine and function, primarily of the nervous system results in adverse health affects.

4. Within the clinical application of chiropractic, correction of subluxations and/or other neuro-biomechanical faults focuses on the goal of reducing the burden of disease, advancing disease prevention and promoting health and wellness.

After a discussion of the fact that the CCE doesn’t support any specific philosophy and a comment from one council member that subluxation is not evidence informed, the council overwhelmingly defeated the motion.

As the foundation continues to investigate this matter, they encourage their subscribers to also remain alert to the changes that will be implemented by the CCE.

Source: Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation, http://vertebralsubluxation.health.officelive.com