Monday, March 21, 2011

A Little from ACC-RAC 2011

The annual Association of Chiropractic Colleges/Research Agenda Conference was held this past week at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Over the course of two days, there were well over a hundred platform presentations given, along with plenary sessions and poster sessions. Palmer College can take great pride in its impact at this program. We had over 34 presentations, posters and workshops, representing the work of individuals from academic teaching faculty, clinician faculty, researchers, administrators and staff. I thought I would highlight a small number of them here.

Platform Presentations

1. Lia Nightingale. Integration of evidence-based clinical practice into a basic science.
Introduction: Evidence-based clinical practice (EBCP) has permeated every health care profession, including chiropractic. The focus of this project was to incorporate EBCP concepts into a first-trimester nutritional biochemistry course at a chiropractic institution. Course learning outcomes were changed to integrate EBCP concepts, including interpretation of relative risk, absolute risk, odds ratios, and numbers needed to treat.
Methods: Four complete lectures were developed to teach EBCP concepts and its functionality in a chiropractic practice. Several new slides were added to each previously taught lecture to illustrate the importance of EBCP throughout the course. Quiz and exam questions were written to reflect the new material and as assignment was developed to guide students in the process of using evidence in practice via the four A’s (ask, acquire, appraise, and apply). Results: Initial examination illustrated improved student performance on exam questions and written papers, but further assessment is required.
Conclusion: Integration of EBCP concepts into a basic science course in a chiropractic curriculum promotes meaningful learning and enhances critical reasoning skills. Furthermore, addition of EBCP has taken a preclinical biochemistry course and made it relevant to patient care, enhancing student satisfaction.

2. Boesch R, Illingworth R. Wiki, a collaborative faculty development tool.
Background: Collaborating on scholarly material is limited to face-to-face meetings, e-mail, or teleconferencing. It is difficult to schedule meetings and teleconferences. E-mailing papers leads to version control problems.
Objective: To describe the development and implementation of a Wiki used to enhance faculty collaboration in the development of scientific publication.
Methods: A wiki for faculty collaboration was developed which linked faculty to the services of a professional scientific editor. Faculty were shown how to use this site via in-service sessions and were then invited to access the site.
Results: Success is shown by the production of scholarly material from the faculty. This demonstrates that scholarly activity is occurring. Three papers are completed, submitted, and accepted for publication; many more are in development. A number of posters have been produced from this process for presentation.
Discussion: The Wiki was introduced for collaboration in real time from anywhere people access the Internet. This allows authors from multiple locations to be part of the process. It provides application for the college and profession to enhance publications. Collaborating at any time reduces stress of scheduling meetings or working with incorrect version. The Wiki has an experienced editor as part of the process of providing feedback. This is a collaborative effort where all work together.
Conclusion: The Wiki is a useful tool to help faculty collaborate on the development of scholarly materials.

Posters

1. Anderson M, Butler C. Management considerations in a transtibial amputee with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
2. Anderson M, Barber M. Kinetic chain dysfunction in a 16-year-old soccer player with ankle pain.
3. Boesch R, Owens J, Silverman S, Klimek M. Cervical spondylitic myelopathy: a case report.
4. Boesch R, Stick M, Illingworth R, Borcher E. Glioma with subdural hematoma initial management: a case report.
5. Cole R, Boesch R, Cole B. Chiropractic management of cycling induced median and ulnar neuropathy.
6. Hubbard T, Pickar J, Lawrence DJ, Duray S. Reliability of the Blair upper cervical radiographic analysis for the base posterior view: a feasibility study.
7. Hubbard T, Kane J. Essential tremor, migraine and upper cervical chiropractic: a case report.
8. Juehring D. A case study utilizing Vojta/dynamic neuromuscular stabilization therapy to control symptoms of a chronic migraine sufferer.

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