Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the frequency of patient-centered communication (PCC)-related terminology in US doctor of chiropractic degree program (DCP) curricula, chiropractic accreditation standards, and chiropractic national boards testing content.
Methods: Sixteen academic course catalogs, Council on Chiropractic Education accreditation standards, and National Board of Chiropractic Examiners test plans for parts I-IV were collected from November 2024 through December 2024. The documents were searched using terminology related to patient-centered communication. Context of each term, frequency of use, and percentage of related terminology relative to the overall curriculum at each respective DCP are described.
Results: The frequency of PCC-related terminology ranged from 2% to 17% in DCP required coursework. A total of 47% of DCP's in this study had a frequency of 5% or less of PCC-related terminology included in their curriculum. The most recent DCP accreditation standards outline a total of 8 Council on Chiropractic Education meta-competencies, 4 of which included terminology related to PCC. PCC-related terminology was absent from the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners primary test categories, with 2 instances found in the secondary test categories.
Conclusion: There is large variability in frequency of PCC-related terminology used in US DCP curricula. Council on Chiropractic Education accreditation standards include PCC-related terminology in half of their stated meta-competencies. PCC-related terminology has limited representation in the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners test plans. Further study is needed to understand the real-time PCC-related content exposure that occurs within chiropractic education.
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