FEATURE PROFESSION MORE OF THE SAME? A look at the results from our annual Chiropractic Trends Survey BY STAFF A lthough we can’t by any means extrapolate these survey results from the couple hun-dred responses we obtained to the entirety of the profession, survey results like these can help facilitate discussion, moving chi-ropractic forward. Here’s what we learned from this year’s survey. CASE MANAGEMENT AND EARNINGS Just over half (51%) of respondents have been in practice for over 20 years, while those who have practised for less than 10 years was about 16%. The remainder have been practising between 10 and 20 years. As with other years, about 50% of respondents practice in Ontario, followed closely by British Columbia (21.5%), and Alberta (10.5%). Working in a multidisciplinary clinic with complementary health care providers (RMT, naturo-path, etc), was once again the top choice for chiros in Can-ada, although female chiropractors were more likely than their male counterparts to work in these environments. Males were more likely to work as solo practitioners. Those in their 20s and 30s were also more likely to work in multi-disciplinary clinics with other medical practitioners (MDs, physiotherapists) than the older cohort. In general, chiro-practors working within clinics with other medical practi-tioners (MDs) have nearly doubled this year (10% of total responses) compared to previous surveys. Most in this younger cohort report their net annual earn-ings in 2018 between $25,000 and $99,999. The majority of this age group spent 21-30 hours in clinical practice, seeing 50-100 patients per week. Chiropractors in their 40s, 50s and 60s were more than twice as likely to work in a solo practice than those younger than 40 years of age. The bulk of this age group reported net annual earnings between $75,000 to $124,999, spending between 21-40 hours per week in clinical practice, and seeing 50-100 patients per 16 Canadian Chiropractor September 2019 This year, more chiropractors are dismissing the idea of expanding the scope of practice to include limited prescription rights. week. Earning supplemental income from product sales was the most popular choice among all chiropractors, but those younger than 40 were more likely to have no other supple-mental income. SCOPE OF PRACTICE, CANNABIS EDUCATION + BIGGEST CHALLENGE More chiropractors are dismissing the idea of expanding the scope of practice to include limited prescription rights. Here are a few comments: • Chiropractic has been a drugless profession for over a hundred years. If we change that now, we are essentially negating the tremendous benefit of the chiropractic adjustment. A limited scope of prescription rights will never stay limited. Too many doctors will too quickly run to the quick fix of a prescription when it takes longer to help a person through the structural changes necessary to improve their condition. I feel that this step will be the first in the gradual decline of this profession. • I think there is value to adding certain pain management prescription products. • Newer graduates from most chiropractic colleges are already being trained to be second-rate physiotherapists rather than first-rate chiropractors. Why would we want to also train them www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor September 2019: Page 16
