What do non-DC healthcare professionals including medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy, physical therapists, and athletic trainers have in common? Per a new study,1 they enjoy significantly more opportunities to earn continuing-education credit for research and academic activities.
Shannon Schuereun, DC, MS, et al., arrived at their findings after a comparison of state licensing board information: for chiropractic, “CE and licensure-related data from chiropractic board and licensure websites for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the US territory of Puerto Rico; for MDs / DOs / PTs / ATs, “state board required credit hours … obtained from each state’s legislative website for each profession.”
Per the analysis, teaching and/or research are recognized for continuing-education credit in all 50 states for MDs, DOs and ATs (with percentage variances by profession / CE category; for example, 12% of states do not allow PT CE credit for research). By comparison, only 16 states (32%) allow DCs to claim CE credit for research activities and only 50% allow CE credit for teaching.
According to the research team, this disparity has serious implications: “We infer that this barrier is likely hindering the research capacity of the profession, which is further constrained by the existing shortage of DCs who have the requisite experience and training to conduct clinical research.”
“With the rapid proliferation of chiropractic and health literature, it is more important than ever for chiropractors to stay up-to-date with the latest research. … [O]ffering CE credit for the conduct of and participation in research studies would provide a facile means towards additional, clinician-focused projects, as well as further practice-based research and training opportunities.”
The paper includes a call to action for the chiropractic profession, recommending that chiropractic state boards not currently offering CE credit for research and/or teaching “promptly reconsider” how supporting these activities can move the profession forward.
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