August 2010
In This Issue:
CCE Changing Standards, Moving Away from Chiropractic
The Council on
Chiropractic Education (CCE) has proposed standards that
shift the profession radically away from chiropractic.
In what many see as an obvious attempt to appease
National College's self proclaimed "Doctor of
Chiropractic Medicine" degree, the CCE's new proposed
standards remove much of what makes chiropractic unique.
The
problems with the new standards are best summed up by
Dr. Steve Welsh, Secretary-Treasurer of ICA and Past
President of the Georgia Council of Chiropractic. In his
letter to Life University, Dr. Welsh writes, "The
proposed new standards from CCE appear to be extremely
problematic and I, and many others, have many concerns
... most of which are related to what is being removed
from the current standards. It does not appear to me
that there will be any requirements for students to
demonstrate a proficiency in "adjusting", and "X-ray".
The definition of "Primary Care Chiropractic Physician"
has been removed and once again, circa 2000, they are
proposing "primary care physician", a term that is not
well defined in the document. All references to chiropractic being a "drugless" profession have been
removed."
In a July 14, 2010 letter
to Lee Van Dusen, D.C., President of CCE, Dr.
Christopher Kent notes
that, "According to the U.S. Department of Education
web site, the Council on Chiropractic Education is
recognized as a specialized accrediting agency. The
scope of recognition is: 'the accreditation of programs
leading to the Doctor of Chiropractic degree and
single-purpose institutions offering the Doctor of
Chiropractic program'.” He then questions the CCE's
authority to give accreditation to an institute that is
rendering a DCM degree. Dr. Kent's letter can be
read by
clicking here.
The ICA also commented in
a letter. Among their many concerns they raised the
issue of lowering the standards for procedures normally
thought essential to chiropractors. Dr. Gary Walsemann,
ICA president wrote, "Also of concern is the removal of
specific descriptions of coursework and clinical
requirements from this draft document." Dr. Walsemann
continued, "...we have some trepidation that the lack of a
description of required areas of study and specific
clinical competencies in the areas of diagnostic x-rays
and adjusting techniques could lead to a gradual
elimination in the curriculum of those subjects and
skill sets that make the education of a chiropractor
unique from that of other medical health care providers. ICA's letter can be
downloaded here.
On August 5, 2010 the
Massachusetts Board of Registration of Chiropractors
(Board of Examiners) shot down the idea of a DCM degree.
They stated, "Therefore, it is the Board’s position
that a licensed chiropractor would be prohibited from
marketing their services, qualifications or degrees by
describing him or herself as a practitioner or doctor of
“chiropractic medicine”. It is the Board’s position that
the statute does not allow licensing of a person holding
a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine degree." This
should mean that National graduates with a DCM degree
are not eligible to practice in that state. With this
ruling, other states are sure to follow. You can read the
Mass Board's letter by
clicking here. '
The proposed new CCE
standards can be found
here.
How Often Should I Change My Website?
This is a common question
we get at NYK. There are really two meanings to this
question that have completely different answers. With a
Now You Know Adjustable website, you can instantly
change the theme of your site to give it a new look. So
if your question is, "How often should I change my
theme?" The answer is fairly easy.
Changing
your theme with a NYK website is merely several clicks
of a mouse away. But how often you do it depends on two
factors, what's going on in your office, and what season
it is. You should change your theme whenever you have a
special event or occasion for your office. This draws
interest and makes things look new. For instance,
if you are sponsoring a sports team, our NYK sports
theme would be a nice touch.
The other reason to
change your theme is seasonal. Presently NYK has 10
seasonal and holiday themes. As the various holidays
roll around, why not give your website a fresh look to
match the holiday or the season. Of course, you
can always just change your website theme because you
just plain feel like it. That reason works the best for
me.
It is an entirely
different matter if your original question was, "How often
should I change my website content?" For this question,
the answer is, "As often as possible." Changing your
website content should be an ongoing endeavor. I
personally am always adding to and changing my clinic's
site,
www.georgiachiropractic.com. There are several good
reasons to do this. First, I want to add new educational
material as I find it. I also want to add things like
video testimonials, great new articles and clinic
events. This keeps the website fresh and interesting.
Changing and updating
your site can also help you in the search engine
rankings. Not only do I add the proper keywords to each
page, (a unique feature NYK gives you with an ADJUSTABLE
website), but I also like to change and freshen the front
page regularly. Changing your website content is one of
the biggest things search engines look for when ranking
sites. Since most new patients are referrals,
doesn't it make sense to give your current patients a
reason to return to your site so they have more
information with which to make a referral?
The nice thing about
changing your site is once you get into it, it is
actually fun. Seeing things you tweaked appear online,
and knowing that thousands will be looking and learning,
is a thrill for me. With the NYK Adjustable websites,
you can do most of the updates and changes yourself.
This makes getting that thrill as easy as possible.
Some Great Programs that are Growing Fast
One of the advantages of
being involved with
Now
You Know is that you get to go to chiropractic meetings
and share the excitement and "spizz" of being a
chiropractor. Having been on the road now for over a
decade, I have noticed some trends in meeting
attendance. There is a definitive growth among meetings
where chiropractic philosophy is the cornerstone of the
meetings.
I thought I might share
with you some of my observations. I can not speak for
the programs that I have not attended, (I have yet to
get to a Chiropractic Jam in California), but these are
the ones that I see growing in both numbers and
excitement. (In no particular order.)
DE
- Dynamic Essentials is on a resurgence both in
numbers and excitement. The meetings are bigger than they
have been in years. Much of this is due to the local
grass roots movements of the Band of Brothers. The Band
of Brothers is a group of DE faithful that rallied
around a talk given by Dr. Dick Santo several years ago.
This group has regular local meetings and numerous
conference calls. This is a strong support group, and a
direct feeder into the DE meetings. As a result, the
meetings are getting more exciting and larger.
www.lifede.com
New Beginnings -
New Beginnings is a group of dedicated, philosophically
strong chiropractors centered in the northeast. However,
recently they have branched out well beyond their region
as doctors travel far and wide to attend these meetings.
This meeting gives attendees a sense of family as they
share the principles of chiropractic. Their meetings
have grown to the point where they sell out their hotel
long in advance, and continue to break attendance
records with every meeting.
www.nbchiro.com
State
& Local meetings - The states that have philosophy
and principle meetings are growing. Recently the Georgia
Council of Chiropractic just completed a convention that
had a spirit so much more than just a CE credit program.
They experienced a 70% increase in attendance.
www.georgiachiropractic.org.
Similarly, the Connecticut Chiropractic Council is about
to hold their yearly convention that they call
their "X-TRAVAGANZA". This program is already showing a
large registration, and will fill up.
www.ctcouncil.com.
The point is that just
when forces are trying to pry the profession away from
our uniqueness, the meetings that support our principles
are growing. I personally applaud these meetings and the
others that support, defend, and promote the principles
of chiropractic. And I intend to keep on going!
The Good, the Bad, and the
Subluxated! - AKA - Chiropractic in the News
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