The Clinical Compass (originally the Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters – CCGPP) recently issued a call for interested DCs to help shape a new best practices guideline for chiropractic care of neck pain. The Delphi method is being utilized, meaning it will solicit "the opinions of experts through a series of carefully designed questionnaires interspersed with information and opinion feedback in order to establish a convergence of opinion."
The Clinical Compass, which had completed selection of Delphi panel members as of Aug. 31, explains the rationale underlying the necessity for this project as follows:
While we know Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG's) are the holy grail of the research hierarchy, we also know that there is still a lot of work to do to understand our interventions and their subsequent outcomes for patients. Absence of evidence does NOT mean absence of effectiveness. The practical application? Recently two of the largest insurance companies made medical policy decisions EXCLUDING common treatments in a chiropractic office. Because there are no CPG's around these interventions, the insurance companies are inappropriately denying payment. A BPG [Best Practice Guideline] helps to solve these enormous injustices.
For additional information regarding this important project, including an explanation of the project and an orientation to the Delphi process, visit www.clinicalcompass.org.
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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A central challenge in creating our identity is that chiropractic is a method of care, not a technique or procedure. This is an important concept for us to promote. Our patients are treated with lifestyle modification, exercise, nutritional supplements, diet and a whole-body approach to accelerate the natural healing process. We are not simply CMT providers.
The results of a global survey released late last year (2023) unveiled some startling findings among medical and nursing students. The “Clinician of the Future: 2023 Education Edition” surveyed 2,212 students, of which 446 were in the United States, from 91 countries.
