Better by Degrees Enhancing the DC’s role through advanced practice programs T he chiropractic profession has evolved significantly over the past few decades and has Dr. Dean Greenwood is a co-owner of the Vancouver Spine Care Centre in Vancouver, B.C., a 1981 graduate of the Palmer College of Chiropractic, a Fellow of the Academy of Chiropractic Orthopedists (U.S.) and of the Canadian College of Chiroprac-tic Orthopedists, and a graduate of the Master of Science in Ad-vanced Clinical Practice program at National University of Health Sciences. gained support from the public, and from medical and other health-care practitioners. Research initiatives, improved standards of education and an emphasis on evidence-based practices are solidifying the role of the chiropractor as an integral part of the health-care team in Canada and in many other countries around the world. Current trends in health-care funding, and a limited supply of pri-mary care medical physicians, have created both an opportunity and a dilemma for the practising chiro-practor. The opportunity is the fact that patients are seeking alternatives to a family medical doctor; the di-lemma is that, more often, they are presenting to a chiropractor with complex health complaints necessi-tating advanced diagnostic protocols, co-management with allopathic pro-viders and referrals for secondary or tertiary care. There have been recent changes in the legislation of the practice of chiropractic in British Columbia. To paraphrase, in B.C., chiropractic means “the health profession in which a person provides, for the purposes of promotion, maintenance and restoration of health, the services of . . . advice and counseling on matters related to the condition of the spine or other joints of the body and the associated tissue, the nervous system and the overall health of the individual.” The emphasis clinically is still spine and related structures, but there is a theme of conservative, integrative care that must be consid-ered in the management of patients during the delivery of chiropractic services. It is incumbent on the chiropractor to have a greater understanding of co-existing disease processes and evidence-based management to provide patients with effective, timely, safe and appropriate care or advice when confronted with a serious or complicated health complaint. An aging population compounds the challenges in primary care, as many conditions are interrelated with aging, further complicating diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Greenwood receives his Masters of Science from Dr. James Winterstein, immediate past-president of the National University of Health Sciences. ADVANCED LEARNING TO BETTER SERVE PATIENTS In 2007, the National University of Health Sciences in Illinois initiated the Master of Science in Advanced Clinical Practice degree program, an advanced degree designed for health-care providers such as chiropractors and naturopaths. The two-year, part-time program was established with several purposes in mind: to enhance and improve diagnostic skills; to help students understand and manage a greater array of clinical conditions; to encourage students to seek to work with an integrative health-care team; to help students pursue professional leadership; to provide educational appointments or PhD-level programs; and to provide training in scientific writing and publication 20 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | DECEMBER 2012 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Dean Greenwood, DC, MSc feature
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