Happy Holidays 2011

In This Issue:

• Holidays Are the Chiropractic Season of Giving
• CCE Gets Tough Language from USDE's NACIQI Committee
• Taking Just a Little Too Much Tylenol Each Time Can Be Deadly
• Now You Know Internet Educational Services

Holidays Are the Chiropractic Season of Giving

It is that time of year again, and almost 2012. This is the time when the days seem to be abuzz with activities and festivities. For most of us, there is also a more spiritual meaning to the holidays that underlines our reasons for these days in the first place. But if you are reading this, you have one thing in common with the rest of us. You are part of the chiropractic community.

During the holidays, it is common to think of giving. And in case you haven't thought much about it, this is what most of us do in our offices every day. Consider this; When a patient comes into your office on any given visit, do you prescribe an adjustment?  No you "give an adjustment". Isn't it odd that with all the choices of words, the most common usage for our care includes the word "give"?

Does a surgeon give surgery? Does a dentist give a filling? Does a medical doctor actually give medications, or does he or she prescribe them? Isn't it interesting that the profession that uses the term give for their main mode of service is chiropractic? So, I guess you could say that in chiropractic, it is always "the season of giving".

You say you do not believe in Santa Claus? Dear fellow colleagues, you are Santa Claus! Sometimes we forget the absolute miracles that we are privileged to witness after we "give an adjustment". You are Santa Claus as you bring a smile to peoples' faces and restore hope and health to so many.

But, you also have two advantages over Santa. First, you do not have to climb down chimneys. Imagine the subluxations that would cause! And second, you actually get paid for what you do.

So, as we celebrate this season of giving, let us not forget that for us, this season never really ends.

CCE Gets Tough Language from USDE's NACIQI Committee

In the last issue of the Information Age, we reviewed the ongoing saga of the CCE and first battle that was about to be fought at their reaccredidation hearing in front of the US Department of Education's, National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI).  To get up to speed on all that had happened prior to the meeting please look at last month's article at http://www.braile.net/TIA/2011TIA/December_2011_TIA.htm. There are many links in that article to additional information on this important event.

On Wednesday Dec. 14th, I was in Washington giving my three minute presentation to NACIQI on the problems with CCE. To get a overview on how that meeting went down from a Georgia Council of Chiropractic perspective, please read our article at: http://georgiachiropractic.org/uploads/GCC_Story_on_CCE_testimony.pdf

The end result was that NACIQI recommended that CCE only get one year of reaccredidation with some strong language to get their house in order. The language of the motion is as follows:

"I move that the NACIQI recommend that the CCE’s recognition be continued to permit the agency an opportunity, within a 12 month period, to bring itself into compliance with the Criteria cited in the staff report and that it submit for review within 30 days a compliance report demonstrating compliance with the cited criteria and their effective application. In addition to the numerous issues identified in the staff report, NACIQI asks the agency to demonstrate compliance with Section 602.13 dealing with the wide acceptance of its standards, policies, procedures, and decisions; and to address how its standards advance quality in chiropractic education."

Everyone who spoke up against the CCE did a superb job and articulated their concerns clearly. But a special BIG kudos needs to go out to Dr. Steve Welsh who was representing himself.  In my opinion, he hit one out of the park!!!  HOME RUN STEVE!!! His presentation was so exact, so poignant, and so GOOD, that the NACIQI committee members crafted their final resolution with his comments specifically in mind. Thank you Dr. Steve.

So what happens next?

Now, it is up to all of us. There is a lot of discussion on the next step. But to me this is obvious. The CCE Standards changes, and all the things CCE does that make our stomachs turn are SYMPTOMS of a larger subluxation. And since we do not treat symptoms, it is time we focus on adjusting the CCE subluxations.

The CCE will never change until the structure that they have built to protect the power of a few is changed. In short, we must have “Democracy for CCE”. If the CCE is ever to become a true guardian of chiropractic higher education, it must become more democratic and represent the view of the majority, and not just a few hell bent on turning us into second-class osteopaths. The NACIQI recommendations spoke to this issue in their motion. Now the window is open.

We must continue the grassroots movement and push for a fair and representative accrediting agency, we must push for Democracy for CCE !

Taking Just a Little Too Much Tylenol Each Time Can Be Deadly

Once again we would like to present a sneak peak at one of the articles in the NYK Real-News Email Newsletter. This month's article was from the December issue of the NYK Patient Newsletter. Each month we deliver to patients and the community articles with real healthcare and chiropractic news.  The consuming public demands good solid information. Fluff pieces on back pain no longer change minds. All the articles from the NYK Newsletter are also archived in all NYK websites, so that the information is always available for the patients and the communities doctors with NYK websites serve. Enjoy the article below.

The above headline comes from a November 23, 2011 article on the Healthland section of the TIME website. This is just one of many articles which include headlines like, "Popular painkiller can be deadly even in small overdoses" (CBSNews), "Sneaky Killer: Just a Little Too Much Tylenol Can Be Deadly" (Fox News), and "Too much acetaminophen over time may damage liver", (USA Today).

The articles are based on a study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology in the November 22, 2011 edition.  The USA Today article starts off with an ominous warning, "Taking slightly too much of the pain reliever acetaminophen (best known by the brand name Tylenol) over time can lead to an overdose that can cause liver failure and death."

Dr. Kenneth Simpson, an author of the study explained in the USA Today article that taking just a little more than the recommended dosage over time can cause serious liver failure and death. He explained further in the Journal's press release, "They haven't taken the sort of single-moment, one-off massive overdoses taken by people who try to commit suicide, but over time the damage builds up, and the effect can be fatal." The term that the researchers used to describe this kind of repeated mini-overdosing was "staggered overdoses."

The study looked at 663 patients who had been hospitalized at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh between 1992 and 2008 with injuries caused by acetaminophen. Of these patients it was determined that 161 of them had staggered overdoses from, according to researchers, taking the drug for things like headache, toothache, muscular pains, and abdominal pains. Dr. Simpson explained the real danger these people were facing by reporting, "On admission, these staggered overdose patients were more likely to have liver and brain problems, require kidney dialysis or help with breathing and were at a greater risk of dying than people who had taken single overdoses."

The article in TIME reports that "Acetaminophen is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world, with 28 billion doses purchased in the U.S. in 2005 alone." They go on to explain that because it is such a common drug, being the main ingredient in Tylenol, that people might think that it is safe. However, they note, "Tylenol overdose is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S., leading to 26,000 hospitalizations and nearly 500 deaths annually, according to the Food and Drug Administration."

Now You Know Internet Educational Services

We Are Chiropractors!  We know what it takes to run a successful practice. We know what kind of education is effective to communicate chiropractic to your practice members and to the public at large. We did not start off as a technology company that decided to sell websites to chiropractors. We are chiropractors who developed the technology to help you better spread the message of chiropractic. From our innovative Adjustable Websites, to our FREE in-office Chiropractic News Service, to our Real-News Email Newsletters, all of the services of Now You Know have been developed and tested by chiropractors, - for chiropractors. We don't try to sell services to chiropractors. We develop services and features we need in our office. Then we offer them to the chiropractic profession. We know what works! NO CONTRACTS!  You simply subscribe to our service and pay by the quarter. We have to continually earn your business.

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