Abstract
BackgroundHuman anatomy education is compulsory in the undergraduate curriculum in all Australian chiropractic education programs. There is very little data on clinicians’ perceptions of the adequacy of their anatomy training and its relevance to practice. The aims of this study were to evaluate Australian registered chiropractors’ perceptions on the relevance and adequacy of anatomy training for clinical practice and analyse their opinion on the usefulness of the teaching resources utilized during their preprofessional training.MethodsA questionnaire-based survey was conducted on a sample of Australian registered chiropractors focussing on the adequacy of their anatomical science (gross anatomy, histology, neuroanatomy and embryology) training and the clinical relevance of each individual sub-discipline, and the perceived value of each of the different anatomy teaching resources utilized.ResultsA total of 128 completed surveys were returned from an estimated 387 attendees at two national chiropractic conferences (estimated 33% response rate). The respondents represent 2.6% of registered chiropractors in Australia in 2016 and were representative in terms of gender (66.4% male) but not age, with older generations being over-represented (peak age group 35–44 vs. 25–34). The majority of the survey respondents obtained their chiropractic qualification in Australia (89.1%) and graduated after 1990 with an average of 21.7 years (SD = 11.3, range = 1–44) in practice. Respondents were equally likely to have undertaken anatomy training in Medicine, Science, Health Science, or other faculties. The disciplines perceived most relevant for clinical practice were neuroanatomy (100% of respondents agreeing) and gross anatomy (99.2%), followed by histology (86.0%) and embryology (81.1%). Respondents also perceived their training to be most adequate in neuroanatomy (99.3%) and gross anatomy (99.2%) followed by histology (91.4%) and embryology (85%). Respondents confirmed exposure to a varied suite of anatomy teaching tools utilized during their pre-professional training and highly valued access to cadavers and prosected specimens.ConclusionsThe majority of respondents perceived anatomy as highly relevant to their clinical practice and noted that it was adequately taught within a wide range of educational approaches. These results will assist educators to refine content and delivery of anatomy course offerings to maximize relevance in chiropractic clinical practice.
Highlights
Human anatomy education is compulsory in the undergraduate curriculum in all Australian chiropractic education programs
In Australia, evidence-based chiropractic education offered in public universities can be traced back to 1990 when the Sydney College of Chiropractic merged with Macquarie University in Sydney, to provide the first chiropractic program at a government funded public university in the world [6, 7]
Regulation of chiropractic education in Australia has been the responsibility of the Council on Chiropractic Education Australasia (CCEA) since 2010, when the profession was included in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme
Summary
This study used a questionnaire-based survey tool modified from similar previously published surveys which evaluated the relevance of gross human anatomy in clinical medical practice [16, 17] and the methods used to study anatomy [18]. The questionnaire collected demographic data (gender, age), year of graduation, years in clinical practice, country in which degree was completed, institution conferring qualification (for extrapolation of country data), home faculty delivering anatomy content, qualifications of anatomy staff and the usefulness of the anatomy teaching resources used during their training. Data analysis Descriptive statistics were used to compare respondents’ age and gender distribution to registered chiropractors in Australia (2016) and to test the homogeneity in the distribution of country where qualification was obtained (Australia, elsewhere), year of chiropractic qualification (< 1978 1981–1990, > 1990), and anatomy home-faculty (Medicine, Science, Health Science, other). The Chi-squared test was used to test the homogeneity in distribution of responses for adequacy in training and clinical relevance for each of the sub-disciplines (gross anatomy, histology, neuroanatomy, embryology). Statistical analysis was completed using SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 23.0.0.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
