Faculty Scholarship

The poster explained the benefits of using digital assessment and data collection in a practical skills lab environment.

The clinical assessment strategies for chiropractic internships occurring within the campus and community-based clinic environments were discussed.

This presentation focused on education research related to developing competency in practice-relevant skills, knowledge, and attitudes. As we help our students develop their cognitive, psychomotor, and affective abilities, we must keep in mind the end product and what we are producing. Our graduates must demonstrate competency in relevant knowledge, skills, and attitudes to practicing healthcare in a professional and evidence-based* manner. Therefore, integrating practice-relevant skills, knowledge, and attitudes are essential throughout our programs.

Practice-relevant education can refer to the appropriateness of learning opportunities for students, or to the process of learning and developing skills through hands-on experience. 

Students enter professional healthcare programs (PHP) with varying degrees of proficiency in basic sciences content knowledge from their various undergraduate programs, preparation for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and different levels of clinical experiences. To adapt to possible gaps in knowledge from incoming students, PHPs offer different assortments of pre-matriculation and review materials. The idea is that these materials will bring the students to be on the same page when they start the program (through pre-matriculation materials) and throughout the curriculum (through review materials). These materials are even more important this year, with students coming out of the COVID pandemic which disrupted their learning in different ways leading to even greater knowledge gaps coming into PHPs.  

Opioid-related lawsuits are expected to generate more than $50 billion in settlement funds for states and localities to remediate the catastrophic consequences of the opioid crisis. Guidance on the distribution of settlement funds has primarily focused on reducing opioid-related deaths and other opioid-related harms and on improving treatment for substance use disorders. However, an effective approach to this crisis will also require primary prevention strategies to reduce unnecessary opioid initiation, particularly through effective pain management. Although numerous strategies have been implemented to slow the issuance of opioid prescriptions, little attention has been given to providing effective nonopioid alternatives for people in pain at the point when they initially seek care. This lack of a preventive focus represents a dangerous gap given that pain remains a leading reason people seek health care.

Chiropractors often boast about high patient satisfaction, good clinical outcomes, and “always” having been patient-centered. While evidence supports those claims, it is worthwhile for us to pause and ask, “what does it take to be person-centered?”, especially given a dynamic and increasingly complex 21st-century social and healthcare climate. As with all aspects of patient care, revisiting the behaviors, skills, and competencies relative to person-centered care through the lens of contemporary best practices can result in better quality, high value care for the communities we serve.