Standards of care: what do they mean to chiropractors and which organizations should develop them

摘要

This article is a follow-up on our previous work examining Canadian chiropractors’ attitudes towards chiropractic philosophy and scope of practice and their implications for the implementation of clinical practice guidelines. In this current study, we examined Canadian chiropractors’ attitudes toward standards of care, the organizations developing them and their relationship to the philosophy index. The findings indicated that there was no agreement about the definition of standards of care among chiropractors, although there was strong support for the concept. Most chiropractors preferred that chiropractic organizations set standards of care - the strongest support was for the Canadian Chiropractic Association. Finally, we found differences among chiropractors’ attitudes toward standards of care and the organizations developing them with respect to philosophy. Empirically oriented chiropractors supported only a narrow definition of standards of care limited to issues surrounding safety and diagnosis. In addition, empirically oriented chiropractors would only support the development of standards of care by an expert panel of chiropractors. Rationalist and moderates supported the development of standards of care by a broader range of chiropractic organizations. We concluded that successful implementation of standards of care could occur if the CCA, in consultation with other chiropractic organizations, was actively committed to this initiative.