No Chiropractic Curriculum Could Be Without It Clinical Services

While basic sciences and also clinical sciences are the undisputed foundation of the chiropractic curriculum, it is the notion of the clinical services that rounds out and ties together the other disciplines previously learned. This is usually the time that a student will be rewarded for her or his hard work and unwavering dedication to the course of study by being permitted to now do an internship and work with real patients. This is obviously done under the watchful eyes of a licensed chiropractic doctor, but it is imperative to understand that the clinical services portion of the curriculum is probably considered to be the vital portion of the learning experience without which it is virtually impossible for a chiropractic doctor to enter medical practice confidently.

Not surprisingly, no student will want to miss this important aspect of her or his education, yet at the same time no other part of the curriculum causes more butterflies and fits of nervousness. It does not matter how well prepared you feel you are for chiropractics and how well you did in your book learning, the first five minutes with a real life patient suddenly make you realize that all your book learning means nothing if you cannot successfully bridge your theoretic understanding of a problem with a real life presentation thereof. Additionally, this is the time for chiropractic students to realize that many text books problems rarely present themselves in such a way as they are pictured in the books. Instead, there are usually a host of other circumstances that play an important role in the diagnoses and long term outlook and as such are of such vital importance that they must be noted separately.

Fortunately, the very fact that clinical services are an important part of the chiropractic curriculum enables the student to conduct – with supervision – an attempt at a successful assessment, diagnosis, and treatment regimen. Very often aspiring doctors are surprised when they realize how seemingly benign factors that are part of a patient’s every day life can influence a treatment plan. A seasoned chiropractor overseeing the internship will gently guide the future doctor to understanding the implication and make allowances for them so that the overall care of the patient is not jeopardized while at the same time ensuring that all possible avenues of care are taken.

As you can see, clinical services are not for the faint of heart and without them a chiropractic curriculum would have very little chance of success. Not even the most intuitive chiropractic student will be able to understand the fine points of patient care to such an extent that she or he could make do without this portion of the curriculum. Additionally, the evaluations the future doctor will receive will help to underscore areas that need refinement while encouraging the development of those areas that show the greatest promise. Chiropractic students will do well to prepare for this phase of their education by studying hard in their basic and clinical sciences and thus getting ready for the privileges of clinical services.