FEATURE visits in their clinic year to graduate, along with 30-40 new patient assess-ments and all of the learning objectives (LOs) that go along with it. During COVID, interns struggled, and CMCC moved away from a numbers-based in-ternship, and guided 4th years through a competency-based protocol for gradua-tion. They really had no choice, because holding back 150+ interns because of their “numbers” was simply not practi-cal, nor ethical. The downside of this, is that CMCC was graduating academi-cally capable DCs, but with a distinct disadvantage with regards to patient management, and technical skills. The CCEB boards are set to create end of education and licensing competency. This is already in place. Missing your “numbers” will come back to haunt grads who simply didn’t get the experi-ence. Seeking out strong mentorship for the first two years of practice will be es-sential in launching their careers. The college did indeed recognize this, and supported enterprising interns who sought out externships to complete their clinical education in community clinics around the country. Dr. M. Jacob Hayes was one such intern who sought out the support of Dr. Erik Klein, and Dr. Dan Comeau for his clinical education, which took place in New Brunswick. This is our story: Not having family or strong social con-nections in the GTA, I knew I was going to have a great deal of difficulty complet-ing my requirements, which led me to seek out Dr. Klein and Dr. Comeau. Even though clinic started in June, I didn’t get into Sherbourne until August to see my first in-person patient. I reached out to Dr. Klein to see if he would be able to help and he was excited. I learned very quickly how differently things happen in community clinics vs. the teaching clinic. My clinicians really endeavoured to provide a mentorship that would help balance my educational competencies while gaining knowledge of “the real world.” As with the beginning of every intern-ship, your first patient intake appoint-ment lasts about four hours. History – talk to your clinician. Ask more questions that you missed – talk to your clinician. Do a physical examination – talk to your clinician. Go back in and complete www.Cndoctor.ca EDUCATION Keep it simple, silly Our CMCC COVID externship experience BY DR. ERIK KLEIN, DC, AND DR. M. JACOB HAYES, DC JAKE ‘THE INTERN’ DR. ERIK KLEIN is a chiropractor and CEO of Town Health Solutions, a network focused on the growth and development of clinical excellence and entrepreneurship for manual therapists. For more information, please visit www.townhealthsolutions.com/franchising. DR. M. JACOB HAYES is a recent graduate of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 2017 with a Bachelors of Sciences. 16 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor September/October 2021 Photo: © LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS / Adobe Stock C This is our experience from both the intern, and the supervising clinician, on CMCCs first broad-based externship program. OVID-19 turned educa-tion on its head. Every-one struggled to some point, especially those finishing high school and missing out on many rights of passage, and those entering higher education. The thought of paying $5,000 for university tuition and sitting in your dorm watching glorified YouTube videos and being marked as if the status quo existed is tough. Beyond that, imagine going back to chiro school and spending $25,000 to do virtual consults and desperately hoping some people come in during the series of lockdowns experienced in the GTA. This has been a hard time for chiropractic interns. Any seasoned doc in the trenches will tell a student that getting as much hands-on experience as possible is the key to a solid start. You need to assess, educate, adjust, and do your rehab. Over, and over, and over again. Tradi-tionally, interns required 350 subsequent
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