Chiropractic Assistant for Clinical Experience?

[deleted807068]

I got an interview at this chiropractic assistant clinic and their hours are great. Just wanted to know if this counts as "clinical experience". You will be talking to patients and doing basic therapies in the future. The main question is if mainstream medicine (DO or MD) look negatively upon chiropractic medicine. I know OMT is kind of similar to this practice. Would appreciate any advice!

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[AlbinoHawk DO]

There is some inherent bias on the part of both MD and DO against chiropractic. However, there have been several chiropractors that have turned into DO. Will it be viewed negatively? It would be based on the person reviewing the file. Some will say that chiropractic experience is no different than someone that got experience on other "voodoo" modalities like homeopathy, naturopathic medicine or acupuncture that don't constitute real medicine (ie, not real/proper patient experience), but I also know osteopathic physicians and MDs that believe in these alternative treatments and would not judge or see it positively.

I know it's hard for pre-meds to get good exposure to patient care, so I would not hold it against someone if they worked for a chiropractor. However, if I were to see an applicant with chiropractic assistant experience, my concern would mostly be seeing if this applicant tries to say it's like OMT. They have to make clear that they know both are different and how they are different. I would give extra points to anyone that would know that Palmer actually stole from osteopathy. He attended an osteopathic school for about 4 months before quitting. It was enough for him to learn about some anatomy and nerves.

 

[femmegoblue]

I got an interview at this chiropractic assistant clinic and their hours are great. Just wanted to know if this counts as "clinical experience". You will be talking to patients and doing basic therapies in the future. The main question is if mainstream medicine (DO or MD) look negatively upon chiropractic medicine. I know OMT is kind of similar to this practice. Would appreciate any advice!

Just from what I have seen at my school, clinical faculty are not thrilled when patients/students make suggestions of seeing a chiropractor. In OMM they've made clear distinctions between cracking just for the crack and actually manipulating muscle and tissue to release nerves/blood flow/lymph flow. If it were me, I would not list chiropractic observation on my clinical experience for medical school apps. I mean, if I happened to shadow an NP or PA I wouldn't even list that on a medical school application. Unless you plan on spinning it as "When I first began I thought chiropractic was for me/thought it was similar to OMM but then I shadowed both and realized OMM is much different/want to actually be a doctor" but that may come off as disparaging to another profession. I say leave it off.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Just from what I have seen at my school, clinical faculty are not thrilled when patients/students make suggestions of seeing a chiropractor. In OMM they've made clear distinctions between cracking just for the crack and actually manipulating muscle and tissue to release nerves/blood flow/lymph flow. If it were me, I would not list chiropractic observation on my clinical experience for medical school apps. I mean, if I happened to shadow an NP or PA I wouldn't even list that on a medical school application. Unless you plan on spinning it as "When I first began I thought chiropractic was for me/thought it was similar to OMM but then I shadowed both and realized OMM is much different/want to actually be a doctor" but that may come off as disparaging to another profession. I say leave it off.

@econpremed I disagree with the above advice. Former chiropractor and current medical student here. 90% of my "pre-med" clinical experience was from being a chiropractor and working in a multidisciplinary setting with other providers (DO, MD, PT). Working in a chiropractic setting IS clinical experience. You are seeing patients and exposed to MSK diagnosis. At my school DOs do NOT look down on chiropractors. OMM and chiro manipulation/soft tissue is extremely similar in nature and the MSK diagnosis is the same. They do have some differences but grossly are very similar. I can say this because i've lived it. I wouldn't recommend only working with a chiropractor for you clinical experiences, as showing diversity in exposure to different medical specialties is important (shadowing etc).