The International Federation of Chiropractors and Organizations (IFCO) has responded to DRAFT Educational Standards promulgated by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE).
In previous versions of the DRAFT the CCE did not include a Meta Competency on adjusting. While a revision included one, the CCE considered adjustment as the same thing as a manipulation and considered subluxation the same thing as joint dysfunction despite the fact that these terms all have distinct meanings.
The new Standards also continue to include the requirement that institutions wishing to be accredited by the CCE must train chiropractic students as primary care physicians.
According to a Press Release from the IFCO, the IFCO objected to the use of those terms because many, if not most procedures termed “primary care” as commonly defined, are not within the scope of chiropractic practice in any jurisdiction.
These include, by example, family planning; immunization against the major infectious diseases; prevention and control of locally endemic diseases; appropriate treatment of common diseases and injuries; and provision of essential drugs.
There are conflicting definitions of primary care and primary care physician. Under the WHO definition, for example, primary care must include a number of services, such as the provision of drugs and vaccines, which are outside the scope of chiropractic practice, and incompatible with chiropractic practice. The IFCO recommended that the term “Primary Care” be removed from the document. In addition, IFCO recommended that the term “primary care chiropractic physician” be replaced with “doctor of chiropractic” and that the term “Primary Health Care” in the Glossary be removed.
For the sake of clarity and proper use of punctuation, the IFCO has recommended that “subluxation/joint dysfunction” be replaced with “subluxation, or joint dysfunction, or both.” The same argument is applicable to “Adjustment/Manipulation” and, as such, the IFCO recommended that “adjustment/manipulation” be replaced with “adjustment, or manipulation, or both.” The IFCO acknowledges that “Joint Dysfunction” and “Subluxation” are not synonyms, nor are “Adjustment and Manipulation.”
The Council on Chiropractic Education has been under intense pressure to listen to its stakeholders in order to salvage its recognition by the United States Department of Education. The CCE came under fire in recent years for its attempts to change the very nature of chiropractic education in an effort to move the profession further into the practice of primary care.
CLICK HERE TO REVIEW STANDARDS and SUBMIT COMMENTS
The CCE is considered to be a central part of the Chiropractic Cartel. These groups, professional organizations and schools are referred to as the Chiropractic Cartel because they enjoy a monopoly on the educational and licensing functions of the entire chiropractic profession throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Africa.
The Chiropractic Cartel includes mostly members of the so-called “Chiropractic Summit” group which has as one of its goals the establishment of chiropractic as the practice of primary care as chiropractic physicians.
CLICK HERE for the IFCO PRESS RELEASE
CLICK HERE for the COMPLETE TEXT SUBMITTED TO CCE
