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Volume 15
J Chiropr Humanit 2008; 15
Table of Contents
Editorial
The 2008 Journal of
Chiropractic Humanities: An Insight into the Past, Present, and Future
Claire Johnson, DC, MSEd
Chiropractic Physicians:
Toward a Synthesis of Electronic Medical Records and the Society, Culture,
Personality Model in the New Millennium
Marcel Fredericks, PhD, Lam Hang, DC, Michael W.V. Ross,
Janet Fredericks, PhD, Luke Lyons, PhD
Objective: The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the key concepts of
electronic medical records and society-culture-personality relationship upon the
educational practice as well as decision making of chiropractors in the new
millennium.
Discussion: It is essential for doctors of chiropractic to be cognizant of the
fundamental core of the society-culture-personality model as an organizational
tool to conceptualize key features of electronic medical records technology. The
new form of socially meaningful interaction established through electronic
medical records technology may augment communication among the healthcare team
and thereby could expand the quality of care.
Conclusion: Electronic medical records technology has the capability to provide
the medium for chiropractors to foster improvements in the health care
institution in regard to five components: availability, accessibility,
affordability, continuity, and quality.
Chiropractic Physicians:
A Functional Conceptualization of Electronic Medical Records Technology and the
Society, Culture, and Personality Model in the delivery of Healthcare
Luke Lyons, PhD, Lam Hang, DC, Michael W.V. Ross,
Janet Fredericks, PhD, Marcel Fredericks, PhD
Objective: The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical functional
framework for chiropractic physicians on how the society, culture, and
personality (SCP) model is an essential tool for enhancing the understanding of
socially meaningful interaction through the use of electronic medical records (EMR)
technology in the healthcare institution.
Discussion: The numerous capabilities of EMR technology can provide many
benefits currently unavailable with paper-based records; thus, EMR technology
can create new communication opportunities to cultivate improvements through
socially meaningful interaction. However, adoption does not guarantee EMR system
operability or patient satisfaction with the care process. Successful migrations
to EMR technology may possibly require healthcare organizations to incorporate
concepts from SCP into the delivery of care. As technological advances occur, it
is essential for chiropractors to remember that a patient is a distinct
individual who happens to have an ailment, rather than simply the ailment. The
SCP model will help to maintain the chiropractor-patient relationship amidst the
changes within the social milieu.
Conclusion: There is a need for chiropractors to re-examine how factors such as
social class, age, racial, ethnic, family, religious background, and technical
competency influence how they utilize electronic medical records technology to
deliver care. These factors can help shape treatment strategies based upon the
patient’s background and chiropractor’s technical ability to employ EMR
technology to bring about greater socially meaningful interaction.
Survey of US Chiropractor
Attitudes and Behaviors about Subluxation
Monica Smith, DC, PhD, Lynn A. Carber, MPM
Objectives: This paper provides new information that describes chiropractors’
professional identity relative to their concept of subluxation in chiropractic
practice and education.
Methods: We performed a pragmatic, descriptive, cross-sectional survey of
state-board licensed chiropractors in the US during 2002-03 to assess their
attitudes and behaviors about their use of “subluxation” in practice. We did not
define nor specifically operationalize, a priori, the term “subluxation”, but
instead allowed each individual doctor of chiropractic to self-define the
concept “subluxation” in their survey responses.
Results: Of all US state-board licensed DCs (N=67,217), 5,931 were surveyed.
Nearly 50% of those surveyed responded. Many surveyed chiropractors generally
agreed that their chiropractic education and clinical approach is “subluxation-centered”,
that the concept of “subluxation” is important to their clinical care decisions,
and that they use the term “subluxation” when communicating with patients, other
healthcare providers, and third-party payors.
Discussion/Conclusion: Based upon those surveyed, chiropractors seem to embrace
“subluxation-based” terms as well as other clinical approaches to describing
their care for chiropractic patients. Understanding the complex nature of
chiropractic approaches to health care provision may carry implications for
current initiatives to advance evidence-based chiropractic practice and clinical
training, enhance successful and comprehensive biopsychosocial management of the
multicausal and complex health concerns of chiropractic patients, and improve
overall delivery of optimal integrative health care. Further inquiry on this
topic should focus methodological and conceptual attention to differentiating
how contemporary chiropractors self-define and clinically apply the concept of
subluxation.
Chiropractic and Energy
Medicine: A Shared History
Simon A. Senzon, MA, DC
Background: The history and philosophy of chiropractic shares similarities with
contemporary research into subtle energies and the theoretical models of energy
medicine.
Objective: To illustrate the similarities and provide examples in order to
advance the understanding of the philosophy of chiropractic and contribute in a
meaningful way toward a new approach to chiropractic research.
Discussion: Three bodies of evidence are discussed in order to plainly show the
similarities. The examples are: the body of research into subtle energies and
energy medicine, the original studies and writings of DD Palmer, and the
research conducted in the BJ Palmer Research Clinic in the 1930s and 1940s. It
is argued that these three examples are compelling in their interconnections and
point the way toward a new vision of research and philosophy in chiropractic.
Conclusion: The philosophy of chiropractic and chiropractic scientific research
can best be understood by first understanding the latest research within energy
medicine and how this relates to chiropractic’s history.
Technique in the
Classroom at Palmer College of Chiropractic: A History in the Art of
Chiropractic
Roger J. R. Hynes, DC, DPhCS, Alana K. Callender, EdD, LCP
Objective: The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of technique
taught at Palmer School and then Palmer College of Chiropractic, the oldest
chiropractic institution and the school that has produced the most practitioners
since its inception. Discussion: The history revealed by tracing chiropractic
technique through the college catalogs and other original source materials
presents a historical overview of the development of the curriculum and is
reflective of the profession’s development of adjusting.
Conclusions: Many of the named techniques are minor variations upon the theme of
the basic techniques taught at Palmer.
Posture Queen Contests in
Alabama
P. Reginald Hug, DC
Objective: This paper recounts the history of the Alabama State Chiropractic
Association’s posture queen program.
Discussion: Perfect posture contests were a successful, unifying, public
relations program in the chiropractic profession in the 1950s and 1960s. The
Alabama State Chiropractic Association was at the forefront in using these
pageants to their fullest. While they had a short lived tenure, these contests
increased the public’s awareness of chiropractic during a time of struggle for
licensure. For unknown reasons, this pageant disappeared in the late 1960s.
Conclusion: Alabama’s posture queen program ran from 1956-1968.
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