The Synopsis
On July 12, 2012, four
students from across the country flew out to Scottsdale, AZ for the
Council on Chiropractic Education’s Stakeholders meeting. A stakeholder
is defined as one who is involved in or affected by a course of action.
With that definition in mind, it came as a surprise to discover that
this was the first time students had been allowed to participate and
present at the stakeholders meeting; and yet, we weren’t even initially
invited. What other group of people is more directly affected by the
actions of the CCE than the collective student body? The standards and
policies set by the CCE have a direct influence on what is taught and
how it gets taught in our schools. When these standards and policies are
not upheld by the schools, they risk losing accreditation. Without
accreditation, the school loses its credibility and ability to produce
graduating doctors eligible to receive licensure. Following the line of
control and influence, it is easy to see that in the world of education
the CCE reigns supreme. We students would soon discover the world of
fear circulating under their tyranny.
On July, 11th,
Wednesday evening, Derrel Pratt-Blackburn and Jarret Browning flew in
representing Parker University in Texas, Robert Love from Life
University in Georgia, and I from Life Chiropractic College West in
California. The reason we took time out of our busy schedules to attend
this meeting was because of the opportunity to express the frustrations
experienced by many students as we see the principle of chiropractic
continually watered down and overshadowed by treatments and diagnosis.
Unless attending one of the few remaining schools actually teaching
philosophy, “subluxation” is seen an evil word and “adjustment” is no
more than a therapy, usually called a “manipulation”, and would most
commonly be used for no more than relief of a musculoskeletal
condition. So, what does the CCE have to do with this? The term
“subluxation” and phrase “without drugs and surgery” were removed from
the new 2012 CCE standards. The removal of these words holds major
implications. Our syntax is what makes chiropractic separate and
distinct from other health professions. You don’t see dentistry trying
to abolish the word “cavity”. The fact that we don’t prescribe drugs or
perform surgery makes us the #1 Natural Health-Care Profession in the
world. The attempt to drop these terms from our standards by the CCE
seems to be an attempt to gain “cultural authority,” but will most
likely end up being little more than a future absorption of our
profession into the medical community.
After a short
night’s sleep our student task force, led by Dr. Martha Nessler of MCQI
(Movement for Chiropractic Quality and Integrity), met for breakfast at
8am. It was there that we discussed what each of us wanted to present at
the meeting at 9am. As I listened to the other students bring their
topics to the surface, I was honored to know that I would be presenting
with some amazing people who are dedicated to the advancement and
preservation of chiropractic. I was also humbled to be sharing a seat at
the table with principled chiropractors Danny Gambino, Brian Stenzler,
Eric Swenson, Joe Merlo, and Jay Komarek. It was apparent we students
were in good hands and exactly where we needed to be, even if we would
soon enter what some would have called the “meat grinder.”
At 9am
the MCQI student task force entered the CCE stakeholders meeting and
were joined by numerous groups and organizations ready to voice their
concerns with the direction of the CCE’s stance and standards for
chiropractic. Some of the organizations represented were: ICA, ACA,
IFCO, COCSA, MCQI, NBCE, ACC, FVS, and Sustainability Committee. The
first part of the meeting consisted mostly of these groups voicing their
disapproval as to the direction of the CCE (ICA, IFCO, MCQI, FVS,
Sustainability Committee, and COCSA). Perhaps one of the biggest
triumphs of the morning was a presentation by a COCSA representative.
The following excerpt from an article written by The Foundation for
Vertebral Subluxation highlights the importance of this presentation:
- “In
what is being regarded as one of the most significant events at the
recent CCE Stakeholder’s meeting in Scottsdale Arizona, John LaMonica
DC, the 2nd Vice-President of the Congress of Chiropractic State
Organizations (COCSA) and Vice President of the New York Chiropractic
Council (NYCC) expressed several concerns about the CCE held by COCSA.
- Dr.
LaMonica stated that COCSA was concerned about transparency of the CCE
Board, representation on the Council and Site Teams, and retaining a
focus on subluxation. While these are significant coming from COCSA, the
most significant concern raised by COCSA at the CCE meeting was for
chiropractic to remain a drugless profession.
- The CCE
infuriated the conservative faction of the profession when it removed
the phrase ‘without drugs and surgery’ from its most recent revision of
the Standards for accreditation and ignited the current educational
crisis within chiropractic.
- The reason that the comment
from an executive at COCSA has drawn so much attention is that COCSA
has made every effort to promote its stance in support of “States
Rights” when it comes to the drug issue in chiropractic. This is the
first time in recent history that COCSA has taken a public stand against
the incorporation of drugs into the practice of chiropractic.
- LaMonica
explained to the CCE leadership that the concerns regarding
transparency, representation, drugs and subluxation were developed
through a consensus process of the leadership in his organization.
LaMonica explained that COCSA represented state associations whose
combined membership represented about 35,000 DCs.
- According
to Dr. Stephen Welsh, ICA Board Member, ‘The comments of Dr. LaMonica
were significant in that they reinforced the concept that the concerns
throughout the profession are NOT limited to a small minority group.’”
Following
the speakers in the morning, the meeting adjourned for 15 minutes as
Council Chair Dr. Craig Little met with the students to discuss what it
was we wanted to talk about. As the meeting came back into session, each
of us students were called up individually, allowed to give our
presentations, and then grilled by an assortment of questions meant to
discredit our personal experiences or place the blame on the
institutions we attend. During my presentation, my main talking point
was on competency. Currently some of the only means of measurement for
chiropractic competency are National Boards scores and how many D.C’s
are maintaining their licensure. I proposed to the council that the CCE
should be measuring competency and their “quality chiropractic
education” based on the students’ readiness to provide a professional
level adjustment, their understanding of WHY we do what we do as a
chiropractor, and by measuring the success of recent graduates in
practice. Following my proposal I was met with a bombardment of
questions by the CCE: “What makes you think students are not competent
in adjusting?” “What is your proof of this?” “Do you have any evidence
that graduating doctors are not successful?” “Who brought you here
today?” “Who are you representing?” “Does your entire school hold this
same opinion?” Etc…
I continued to answer these questions
to the best of my ability but quickly realized the CCE was far more
prepared and well-versed as it showed in their ability to manipulate
conversations, spin tangled webs of red tape, and relinquish the blame
put one them and frame it on someone else. Interesting to think—most of
the questions they were asking me, they should have been asking
themselves. Are they not the people who are responsible for ensuring a
“quality
CHIROPRACTIC education?” Should they not be
involved in conducting surveys to follow-up with recent graduates,
ensuring that the education they are regulating is indeed of quality and
more importantly of quality in relevance to a practicing chiropractor?
After a long and grueling day attending the CCE stakeholder’s meeting, these were my take-aways:
1)
Under the reign of the CCE, a circle of fear exists amongst the
institutions. If you are not on board with what the CCE has in plan, you
risk losing accreditation. Even though each school had representation
at this meeting, hardly anybody wanted to step up and take a stance
unless they were primarily in agreement with the CCE and where they are
headed. Nobody seems willing to conduct surveys of competency for fear
of the consequences.
2) It seems apparent that the
CCE is creating standards that allow institutions the flexibility to
increasingly approach the Doctorate of Chiropractic Medicine all while
watering down and filtering out the fundamentals of chiropractic. You
can read the new current Standards, Policies, and Bylaws at:
http://www.cce-usa.org/Publications.html
3) If it was
not apparent enough where the CCE is headed, council chair Dr. Craig
Little is a member of the West Hartford Group. So, who is the West
Hartford Group and what is their political stance? This quote was taken
from an article published in Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2008, by the
current president of the WHG, Dr. Donald Murphy, “There can be no unity
between the majority of non-surgical spine specialist chiropractic
physicians and the minority of chiropractors who espouse metaphysical,
pseudoreligious views of spinal subluxations as ‘silent killers’ [47].
The latter minority group needs to be marginalized from the mainstream
majority group, and no longer should unrealistic efforts be made toward
unification of these disparate factions within the profession.” Check
out the full article at: http://www.westhartfordgroup.com/ourmessage.htm
4)
When it comes to matters regarding the CCE and their involvement, the
CCE is a professional group that is well-studied in their standards and
the political process that goes in to protecting their ideals. If we
choose to battle them in their arena, we must bring the big dogs and
come as well prepared as they are.
5) There are 11
seats that are now open and waiting to be filled on the CCE. Public
nominees are screened through the Council Development Committee. Those
candidates are then voted on by the current councilors of the CCE, and
elected based on a majority vote. However, it appears as if the CCE is
quick to weed out anyone who is not aligned with their same beliefs.
This inbreeding needs to come to an end.
6) ACA was
one of the only organizations that showed full support for the CCE. It’s
obvious that in their pursuit of the broadest scope of practice
possible, they have laid in bed with the CCE.
7) If
we students leave the school system without knowing the body to be a
self-healing organism, the school and the CCE have failed us! Our future
practice members don’t need another treatment. They need to be awakened
to a new state of awareness and stream of consciousness. They need the
empowerment that the ADIO principle provides.
So where do we go from here?
1)
We can no longer accept playing in our little sand boxes and say,
“politics is for someone else to handle.” We all need to step up, play
big, and let our voice be heard. The CCE thinks the principled
subluxation based chiropractor is the minority. If we decide to remain
quiet, we prove them right! One of the main questions they kept asking
during the meeting was, “what percent of the profession does your
opinion represent?” Because we haven’t been getting personally involved
in the political arena, it is now crucial that you support the political
organizations that support your viewpoint. By showing your support for
these organizations they can have numbers to back up their statements
when presenting at various meetings and conferences. Currently, the
IFCO, ICA, and MCQI are organizations that I choose to support and I
suggest you look into what political organizations are fighting for what
you believe in.
2) The fundamentals of a
chiropractic education need to be clearly defined and represented in the
foundation of the CCE standards. These fundamentals were laid down for
us within the green books, 33 principles, and by the main developer of
chiropractic B.J. Palmer, DC, PhC. They are the rules of the game. You
wouldn’t show up for basketball practice with a tennis racket and call a
3-pointer an ace.
3) A true chiropractic competency
survey must be distributed, collected and analyzed. If distributed
amongst recent graduates in practice, sample questions could include:
“Did
your school properly prepare you for a career in chiropractic?” “What
percent of what you were taught are you currently using in practice?”
“What is your WHY for what you do?” “What is your current income and is
it what you originally imagined yourself earning?” “Do you feel you
received proper education in the art, science, philosophy and business
of chiropractic and are you able to communicate that in multiple
settings?” “Are you able to make your student loan payments?” “How would
you rate your quality of life?”
We the students need to
band together and initiate a movement. It’s as much our responsibility,
as well as our fellow chiropractors, to step up to the challenge. When
enough people come together, get organized, and make a stand for a
higher purpose, change is imminent.
It's time, Rise Up
