• Hawk C
• Schneider M
• Dougherty P
• Gleberzon BJ
• Killinger LZ

• Aged
• Benchmarking
• Chiropractic / standards
• Consensus Development Conferences as Topic
• Delphi Technique
• Geriatrics
• Patient Care Management
• Practice Guidelines as Topic

Methods: A set of 50 seed statements was developed, based on the clinical experience of the multidisciplinary steering committee and the results of an extensive literature review. A formal Delphi process was conducted, following the rigorous RAND-UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) methodology. The statements were circulated electronically to the Delphi panel until consensus was reached. Consensus was defined as agreement by at least 80% of the panelists. There were 28 panelists from 17 US states and Canada, including 24 doctors of chiropractic, 1 physical therapist, 1 nurse, 1 psychologist, and 1 acupuncturist.

Results: The Delphi process was conducted in January-February 2010; all 28 panelists completed the process. Consensus was reached on all statements in 2 rounds. The resulting best practice document defined the parameters of an appropriate approach to chiropractic care for older adults, and is presented in this article.

Conclusion: A multidisciplinary panel of experienced chiropractors was able to reach a high level (80%) of consensus on evidence-informed best practices for the chiropractic approach to evaluation, management, and manual treatment for older adult patients.

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