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Patient characteristics upon initial presentation to chiropractic teaching clinics – A descriptive study conducted at one university
Methods: All data were obtained exclusively from the electronic health record (EHR) system. All records identified as new patients presenting to the teaching clinics from October 1 through October 31, 2013, were included in the study. Variables of interest included clinic site, patient demographics (sex, age and race/ethnicity); blood pressure and body mass index (BMI); chief complaint and ICD-9 codes. Descriptive statistics were computed using SPSS (v. 22).
Results: A total of 224 new patients presented to the institution’s fee-for-service teaching clinics in the month of October 2013. The mean age was 37.3 yrs (range, 2 mo to 88 yrs). The average patient was a white male aged 31-50. Our clinic patients differed from the Practice Analysis data on U.S. chiropractors in the distribution of all demographic variables, due to a higher prevalence of males, a younger population, and a much higher prevalence of white patients in our clinics.
Conclusions: New patients in our fee-for-service teaching clinics appear to be dissimilar to those of U.S. chiropractic patients in general, in several important demographics, characteristics, and type of complaints. Continued efforts to provide interns more diversity of experience is important to ensure that they are well prepared for practice.
Learning Areas:
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programsPlanning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education
Learning Objectives:
Identify similarities and differences between patients presenting to a chiropractic university's teaching clinics and patients presenting to U.S. chiropractors.
Describe several ways in which chiropractic educational programs can bridge the gap between student clinic opportunities and what field practitioners are managing.
Keyword(s): Chiropractic, Community Health Centers
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the prinicipal or co-prinicipal investigator on numerous quantitative and qualitative clinical and educational research projects. Among my interests is the development of simulated clinical opportunities designed to provide students with opportunities to develop patient centered clinical and interpersonal skills.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.