For CAs: Introduction to a Rewarding Career

For CAs: Introduction to a Rewarding Career

The Chiro.Org Blog

We would all like to thank Dr. Richard C. Schafer, DC, PhD, FICC for his lifetime commitment to the profession. In the future we will continue to add materials from RC’s copyrighted books for your use.

This is Chapter 1 from RC’s best-selling book:

“The Chiropractic Assistant”

These materials are provided as a service to our profession. There is no charge for individuals to copy and file these materials. However, they cannot be sold or used in any group or commercial venture without written permission from ACAPress.

Chapter I:   Introduction to a Rewarding Career

To enter the health-care field as a chiropractic assistant is an adventure for the qualified individual. The nationwide trend in the primary care professions is not only to provide qualified health-care professionals but also to assure that assistants are qualified to carry out their duties and responsibilities in caring for the health needs of patients. To achieve this goal,

1. chiropractic physicians are encouraged to use assistants to increase personal efficiency, and
2. chiropractic organizations are encouraged to sponsor legislation establishing a nationwide accredited chiropractic assistants program.

All states and Puerto Rico have statutes recognizing and regulating the practice of chiropractic as an independent health service because the profession has proven its value as a public service. On foreign shores, the practice of chiropractic is officially recognized and regulated in Canada, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, Western Australia, Bolivia, and is acknowledged and accepted in the British Isles, South Africa, Rhodesia, Japan, France, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, and Egypt. Official recognition is being initiated in scores of other countries.

Note: While most doctors of chiropractic are males, the number of female practitioners is growing. Likewise, while the majority of chiropractic assistants are female, an increasing number of males are assuming the role of chiropractic assistant. For the sake of simplicity and not sexual bias, the pronoun “he” is used throughout this program when referring to the doctor of chiropractic, and the pronoun “she” is used when referring to the chiropractic assistant. This is solely to avoid the redundant “he or she” or “he/she” when referring to the doctor or assistant.

WHO ARE INVOLVED IN ADMINISTERING
CHIROPRACTIC HEALTH CARE?

The Doctor of Chiropractic. The titles doctor of chiropractic (DC), chiropractic physician, and chiropractor are synonymous. A doctor of chiropractic is a physician concerned with the health needs of the public as a member of the healing arts who gives particular attention to the relationship of the structural and neurologic aspects of the body in health and disease. Being thoroughly educated in the basic and clinical sciences as well as related health subjects, the professional education of a chiropractor prepares him as a primary health-care provider. As a portal of entry to the health delivery system, the chiropractic physician must be well educated in diagnosis and case management to care for the human body in health and disease and to consult with or refer to other health-care providers.