Supervision of chiropractors: a pilot study

Since 1989, Swedish chiropractors with the title "Doctor of Chiropractic" have been authorized as chiropractic physicians by the Swedish health authorities. To obtain authorization after college examination abroad, the new graduate must attend a 1-yr postgraduate course in Sweden. The postgraduate training time in spent half at the hospital (mainly in the orthopaedic department) and half with an authorized chiropractor.

To investigate what is important for the chiropractic graduate to learn during his postgraduate training with an authorized chiropractor and which characteristics are important to have to be a good chiropractic supervisor.

Questionnaires were sent out to 10 authorized chiropractors who have chiropractic graduates at the moment or have had chiropractic graduates in the past. Eleven closed questions and one open question were used.

Regarding clinical activities, the most important aspect for the supervisors to learn was to have regular meetings with the graduate. Regarding the graduate's relationship to the patients, the most important aspect was to be professional. In the open question, the most important characteristic to become a good supervisor was to have an interest in teaching.

Chiropractors feel that one of the most important aspects of supervision is the ongoing dialogue between the chiropractor and the graduate. Among the statements that were considered less important included "awareness of correlation between body and mind" and "to have a holistic approach." It is possible that these two questions received such a low score because chiropractors believe that these activities are not important in the learning process for the graduate. Evaluating what the authorized chiropractor feels is important for the graduate to learn during the postgraduate training will provide some guidelines for those intending to take on graduates in the future. Follow-up studies are needed to compare the opinions of the graduates and the chiropractors.