Course Content: BSc/MSc Chiropractic
"The BSc/MSc Chiropractic at the AECC immerses you into life as a chiropractor" - Hans Christian Eriksson, AECC student
Year 1
Contemporary Healthcare
This unit aims to introduce students to the methodology of science, its role in healthcare generally and its advantages and disadvantages when attempting to answer clinical questions.
The unit introduces the notion of healthcare regulation, and also examines the origins and evolution of chiropractic and how the scientific method enhances and edifies the profession.
As a practical extension to the concept of professional standards, Contemporary Healthcare requires students to engage in the Clinical Observation programme, providing an early exposure to the clinical environment.
Diagnosis and Clinical Management
This unit introduces the fundamental skills necessary for a successful career in clinical chiropractic. The development of many professional competencies, from taking a patient history and good medical record-keeping, to those of physical examination and the manual procedures required to assess musculoskeletal health, begin with this unit. Furthermore, students are introduced to the therapeutic skills of massage and joint mobilisation techniques.
Human Function and Dysfunction I & II
The purpose of these units is to provide students with an understanding of how the human body regulates its functions at all levels, from individual cells to body systems. These units emphasise neuromuscular function and encompass all major systems such as cardiovascular, respiratory and renal.
As normal healthy function is described, the units will also consider common mechanisms of dysfunction, or pathology, using illustrative clinical cases to explore how disturbed physiology expresses itself in patients. Once these general pathological processes are understood, knowledge of the actions of common pharmacological agents and other therapies currently used in medicine, can be examined and discussed.
Human Structure I & II
These units introduce the fundamental concepts of human anatomy with special emphasis on the neuromuscular system. Common clinical imaging techniques will be utilised to illustrate and support understanding of the ways in which the structure of the human body determines its function. In addition, the basic principles of biomechanics will be introduced and applied where relevant. Although the main objective is to familiarise the student with normal appearance and function, all structures are explored with respect to their inherent potential for disease or dysfunction, and the clinical consequences of their damage or injury.
Year 2
Clinical Management I
This unit extends the themes introduced in Year 1 with the Diagnosis and Clinical Management unit. The objective is to allow students to further develop the psychomotor skills required to effectively assess and improve musculoskeletal function in patients. As well as the essential palpatory and chiropractic manual manipulative skills development, the unit introduces the application of concepts and principles of functional rehabilitation. Students will also be introduced to the techniques required to identify and manage psychosocial components of musculoskeletal complaints, with special emphasis on chronic pain.
Contemporary Chiropractic
This unit applies the principles of research methods to the critical appraisal of a variety of biomedical studies. Students are therefore exposed to the practise of evidence-informed healthcare from a pertinent and pragmatic perspective. The unit also explores the professional aspects of chiropractic practice, such as the importance of the “patient record”, its value to patient management and its medico-legal dimensions. The duties, responsibilities and standards of care expected of chiropractors within regulated healthcare will be extensively discussed in the context of the Code of Practise & Standards of Proficiency documents published by the General Chiropractic Council.
As with the Contemporary Healthcare unit in Year 1, students will also be expected to engage in the Clinical Observation programme as part of the requirements for this unit.
Diagnosis I
The unit encourages students to apply the concepts and principles of the diagnostic method to the development of a practical approach to the assessment of health status, triage and diagnosis. Students will be able to assess a wide range of patient presentations and make appropriate clinical decisions on further evaluation, therapeutic intervention, referral or other management action. This requires a familiarity with patient presentations common to chiropractic practice, awareness of red-flag findings suggestive of serious or life-threatening conditions and high-level skills in the acquisition, evaluation and interpretation of clinical data. This unit includes subject disciplines such as neurology, orthopaedics and rheumatology, and will utilise problem-solving methods applied to a series of clinical cases throughout the year.
Health Components
The unit explores behavioural factors important in maintaining health and introduces the psychosocial counselling skills required to improve the therapeutic alliance between practitioner and patient, helping patients to make positive changes to their behaviours.
The themes of health improvement and promotion will be developed through a series of exemplar research studies focused on the effects of diet, activity and behaviour on human health. These studies will be selected to stimulate discussion and discourse, and to facilitate the development of a critical, analytical approach to the assessment of evidence over a wide range of health-related topics.
Human Function and Dysfunction III
This unit investigates how essential physiological processes can be challenged by mechanisms of disease or dysfunction and how these are manifested. The unit will focus on the physiology and pathology of pain, the immune and endocrine systems and the mechanisms of malignancy, ranging from individual cells to major body systems. Disease and dysfunction at all levels are explored using problem-solving methods applied to a series of clinical cases. These cases are designed to stimulate a deeper understanding of how normal physiology can be undermined and what effective interventions are currently available to help in restoring function.
Human Structure III
As with the preceding units in this series, Human Structure III applies the disciplines of Anatomy, Clinical Imaging and Biomechanics to the understanding of how structure influences both function and dysfunction. The unit focuses primarily on neuro-musculoskeletal system and, in particular, the central and peripheral nervous systems. A series of clinical cases will be explored in order to contextualise learning and allow the application of previous knowledge to new perspectives. Students will be expected to critically analyse relevant disease presentations and attempt to integrate their knowledge of anatomy and functional biomechanics in order to provide rational explanations and plausible solutions to clinical problems.
Year 3
Clinical Management II & III
These units aim to develop and apply knowledge and skills from previous Clinical Management units in the context of individualised patient management, using a wide range of interventions and procedures from functional rehabilitation, manual therapy (including a variety of chiropractic techniques) and behavioural psychology. Students will be expected to critically evaluate, select and defend appropriate management strategies in a variety of clinical situations. The skills associated with clinical decision making and reasoning are practised under controlled conditions. Emphasis will be placed on understanding and adapting different manual techniques to the needs of the patient and the practitioner and in the development of higher level communication skills. Many of the concepts and principles encompassed within this unit will be explored and applied to the clinical case series running throughout Year 3.
Diagnosis II & III
These units are concerned with the knowledge and skills required for the assessment of patient health to inform further management and determine the appropriateness of chiropractic care. This approach necessitates the application of knowledge from a wide range of specialties including clinical neurology, orthopaedics and rheumatology. The units expand and refine the ability to assess a wide range of patient presentations, make appropriate clinical judgements on further assessment, therapeutic intervention, referral and other management issues. The aims of this unit will also extend and apply to the clinical cases series explored throughout Year 3.
Integrated Patient Management
This unit provides a focus for the application of knowledge in the management of patients, both in private and multi-disciplinary practice settings. The unit will be led by clinical staff with the support of senior clinical students using cases from the AECC Clinic. Learning is contextualised within the policies, protocols, customs and practice of the AECC out-patient clinic, standards expected of registered chiropractors and the wider healthcare community. The unit will explore and examine the safe and competent use of radiographic and other imaging modalities in preparation for the disciplines of Radiography and Diagnostic Imaging covered in the MSc programme.
Students will be expected to take part in the Clinical Observation programme and engage in discussion and analysis with clinical tutors and peers.
Research in Practice I
The aim of this unit is to offer practical guidance in how evidence can inform and impact on the clinical management of patients. The student is encouraged to develop an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge, as well as the skills for formulating, sustaining and critically evaluating methodological argument and clinical decision making. The unit explores evidence-informed approaches to clinical practice and will culminate in the production of a research protocol.
Year 4
Clinical Internship I
The aim of this unit is to introduce the student to the responsibility of primary contact healthcare for the chiropractor, allowing students a graded exposure to clinical life. Students will manage their own patient case load under supervision in the AECC outpatient clinic and be expected to actively engage in all aspects of clinical decision making and delivery of patient care. The vocational nature of this unit necessitates that students work autonomously progressing from a position of mentored development to one of responsibility for continued learning.
Clinical Management IV
This unit has two broad aims; firstly, to develop the knowledge and skills required for the safe and competent acquisition and interpretation of radiological and other imaging investigations pertinent to the range of conditions and presentations commonly seen by chiropractors. Additionally, it is essential that students are fully cognisant of their personal responsibilities as practitioners with regard to patient safety, and the steps required for full compliance with current legislation and regulations relating to ionising radiation.
Secondly, the unit is designed to encourage the application of clinical knowledge and therapeutic skills to the management of special populations such as the older and younger patient, patients with impairment and/or disabilities and the pregnant female. Current best-practice approaches for special populations will be explored.
Research in Practice II
This unit is concerned with developing a deeper understanding of the role of primary and secondary research in the clinical setting. Established techniques of analysis and enquiry will be applied to a specific research question and through this exercise an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge will be developed. Students will complete a dissertation and defend and discuss their findings and conclusions with both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
Year 5
Clinical Internship II
Clinical Internship II is where students apply their previously-learned knowledge and skills to patient care in a controlled environment. On successful completion of this unit, candidates will assume the responsibilities of an independent practitioner and be comfortable with operating at an autonomous level. Emphasis is placed on the development of qualities such as the capacity for critical reflection and enquiry, which are required for self-determined practice. Learning is experiential and results from the interaction between students and their patients and through discussion and debate with experienced clinicians on all aspects of patient and practice management.
Students will be expected to mentor and guide their junior colleagues in Clinical Internship I and assist the learning of students in the undergraduate programme, thus developing the qualities and attributes of leadership.