Review

"The Chiropractic Education and Research Newsletter"

Edited by Kevin P. McNamee, D.C.

Did you know that enrollment in medical schools has been declining for the last six years while at the same time chiropractic enrollment has been on the rise? Could this be an indication that society is becoming more aware of the natural healing arts? That they might be finding that playing pharmaceutical roulette isn't the healthiest game in town?

Did you know that the range of months required to obtain a medical degree begins at 28 months up to 43.5 months? What a span. The information comes from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Chiropractic? We go from 36 to 40 months.

A habit of mine is to look through encyclopedias for their description of chiropractic. One of the best is in the World Book because it was written by an esteemed member of our own profession, Richard C. Schafer, D.C. It's galling to have someone review something of which they know nothing. Let's face it, if you to wanted to know about cardiac surgery you wouldn't ask a dentist. Unfortunately, the Encyclopedia Americana assigned someone by the name of Miriam G. Hill from the University of Alabama to write the section on chiropractic. The result was a compendium of insulting misinformation. You might think of writing the folks at the Encyclopedia Americana to express your displeasure.

Did you know that consideration is being given to opening chiropractic colleges in Egypt, India, and Mexico? With chiropractic colleges already in Australia, England, France, Japan and Canada, it can readily be seen that our profession is getting academically more muscular every day.

Do you know where all this information came from? The preceeding and more came from The Chiropractic Education and Research Newsletter (CERN), a new quarterly publication that is meant to inform and educate members of the chiropractic profession.

We have a bad habit in our profession. That habit is to concentrate on the mechanics of making money. Not that making money is a bad habit. Only when it obscures everything else. The result of this monetary obsession is that often the obsessed eventually knows little about the profession he claims to practice. Chiropractic is a lot more than a cursory punch on someone's back and a checkbook. It's our schools, what people know about us, and the organs of communication that educate the public. It's about research and growth.

To be a dimensional professional, it's important that we know as much as possible about us and what we do so that we may in turn educate our patients, other professionals, and the non-chiropractic public.

This is why newsletters like the CERN are more important than might at first be realized. With an editorial board composed of people like the president of the Chiropractic Council on Education (CCE), Dr. E. Maylon Drake, and ABCO president Dr. Leonard Savage, this newsletter not only fulfills a need but does it very well.

Did you know that the CCE just approved giving credit for professional clinical work to those who may have taken the appropriate instruction from another first professional degree-granting institution? Did you know that ... Well, you'll just have to find out for yourself by subscribing to the newsletter. We have a lot to be proud of -- why not find out how much.