All healthy service organizations undergo cycles of growth and change - seasons in their development. The National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) is in a particularly notable period of change.
As an organization, the NBCE can be compared to a dedicated marathon runner. We prepare ourselves mentally and physically to run the next race and give the next test. We build up our resources, train our extended "body," and envision our plan carefully. When the race begins, we give everything we have - in our case, to present the best quality testing available. When it ends, we analyze and dissect our processes to learn how we can run even better next time. And the ongoing cycle continues.
The mission of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners is to assist the regulatory community in protecting the public by providing the best possible examination tools at a fair cost. The state boards created the NBCE, and all of our exams have been developed at their request. We help the boards discern which examinees are ready to assume the responsibilities of licensed chiropractic practice.
To meet this goal, we must continually assess our own processes. We measure ourselves against our peers in professional testing to ensure that we have a legally defensible exam that is fair to the examinee.
In the past year, many of our NBCE processes have been carefully reviewed. We are pleased to say that the testing processes, in particular, shine brightly among the stars in professional licensure examinations. Our program continues to be at the leading edge of quality testing. However, that is not good enough for our board of directors and staff - nor should it be good enough for the chiropractic profession. We want to be the best.
To this end, we are continually pushing the National Board forward. Work is underway on a number of exciting efforts, with a focus on improving our test as well as serving the profession, particularly our examinees. Here's just a snapshot of the current story:
Currently, computerization contributes to efficient application processing, test preparation, and scores analysis and reporting. For example:
We plan to extend the computerization into test-taking. The first exam to be converted will be the Special Purposes Exam in Chiropractic (SPEC), an increasingly recognized tool for practitioner mobility and reinstatement cases. A presentation on this exciting effort is scheduled for the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards' 75th Annual Congress, April 5, in San Antonio, Texas.
The mission of the NBCE is not - and never has been - to limit the competition or restrict the numbers of doctors in practice, nor is it to lower safety standards to allow as many doctors of chiropractic as possible to practice. The regulatory agencies have the responsibility to protect the public, and the NBCE provides essential tools to our partner boards.
The chiropractic profession is best served when competent, ethical practitioners deliver the best possible care to the patients that trust us with their health. The NBCE will not fail to uphold the public trust.
As president for the past 10 months, I have had the unique opportunity to help manage the health plan of a great athlete, the NBCE. We have studied the films of our past races, and have carefully and candidly assessed our resources. We are improving our strategy with improved testing processes, and are deeply committed to accountability and stewardship.
As a fellow doctor of chiropractic, I can give you my professional opinion with confidence: this world-class athlete is healthy and ready to run the marathon.
Your ideas and comments are welcome and encouraged. Please visit with us in person at our annual meeting, April 6, 2001, in San Antonio, or contact us at nbce@nbce.org (visit our website at www.nbce.org), or call (970) 356-9100.
Peter Ferguson,DC,
NBCE President
Canton, Ohio
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
