Chiropractic education : towards best practice in four areas of the curriculum

Objective: To report outcomes of the discussion-based components of the inaugural Summit on Chiropractic Education held in Melbourne Australia in July 2009. Design: A narrative reporting statements of relative consensus that form the basis for the future development of statements of best practice. Setting: A two day meeting on the RMIT University campus held under the auspices of the Australasian College of Chiropractors of the Chiropractors Association of Australia (National). Participants: The academic leadership of the eight Asian Pacific chiropractic institutions, leading educators other than chiropractors, industry leaders and practicing members of the discipline of chiropractic. Results: The nature of the methodology allowed the development of themes that will facilitate future discussion in four areas of the chiropractic curriculum: assessing students in the clinical setting; engaging students in learning research and scholarship; the teaching of clinical skills and chiropractic technique; and aligning taught content with industry (professional) practice. Conclusion: While it is not appropriate to take any of the reported statements as being representative of agreed best practice there are valuable comments that not only show commonality amongst all institutions but also represent a solid foundation of educational concepts.