It's here! Released to the profession at the Parker Seminar in Las Vegas in February, DCConsult, the long-awaited and anticipated Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research (FCER) evidence-based Web site is now online.
We are all cognizant of the logarithmic growth of the use of the Internet. It has become the primary source of information for the rising generation. Everything we ever wanted to know or see (and many things we don't) is found on the Internet.
A little over a year ago, the FCER began discussions on how it could better serve the chiropractic profession. With a long history of supporting valuable research and encouraging bright, progressive minds to pursue a research career, the FCER has made momentous contributions to the growth and development of the research foundation for the chiropractic profession. But it was now time to do something more.
In our culture of evidence-based health care, doctors of chiropractic in practice are besieged with third-party payer claims being cut for lack of evidence, articles questioning the validity of what we do in practice, and the century-old suspicion of whether chiropractic practice is really based on science or something less. A sword of evidence was necessary to cut a swath through this morass of misleading information.
But with so much paperwork and even busier lives, who has the time to sit down and read through a journal every day, go to the local medical library to keep up or even find what might be available on the Internet? And even for those who might have time, are we able to separate the "wheat" from the "chaff"? This is where the FCER has seen a golden opportunity to step up and help. The following tools are available now:
- This Week in Chiropractic. A biweekly summary of selected abstracts from the current and relevant literature.
- Periodic teleconferences. Conducted by leading authorities providing online, current discussions on topics designed for the doctor in practice.
- Online journal club. During each club meeting, participants discuss a highly relevant article, with the goal of helping the practicing doctor become familiar with the process of understanding a scientific article.
- DCConsult. Our new Web site provides immediate access to evidence-based reviews on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of conditions common to chiropractic practice.
When we started to design DCConsult, I wondered, "Why hasn't someone already done this?" I soon realized that creating a worldwide resource center in which to house the Web site and the material necessary to support it was the first obstacle to overcome. Fortunately, the Manual, Alternative and Natural Therapy Index System (MANTIS) was poised to provide the foundation for this resource center and got us over the first hurdle.
The second obstacle was designing and developing the actual Web site. I was stunned at the number of Web sites designed to "help the practitioner" in all fields of health care. Some were legitimate, but many others were nothing more than fronts for marketers' efforts to sell something. Some were complicated mazes of commands and pathways that soon discouraged the fainthearted non-techie. Many were so drug-oriented (drug-sponsored) that there was little hope of finding answers for a conservative approach.
In the end, it became obvious that a unique and very efficient Web site was needed to meet the demands of the doctor of chiropractic in practice. When FCER acquired the exclusive license to MANTIS as the foundation for our evidence-based resource center (EB-RC), we also acquired the experience and wisdom of Dr. Ron Rupert and the programming expertise of his son, Joe Rupert. This dynamic duo has been at the heart of making DCConsult practice-relevant, efficient and useful.
With more than a year's experience in developing, beta testing and receiving feedback from end-users, the FCER has developed the ultimate tool for evidence-based practice. While we are pleased with our product, we also know it has the potential to be even more useful as it expands and refines itself. DCConsult will continue to be a dynamic process. We welcome feedback from our users as we continue to enhance and provide options that best meet the needs of the chiropractic practitioner.
If you have not yet perused DCConsult, treat yourself to a few minutes of delight as you surf through www.dcconsult.com and capture the same vision as we have at FCER. We are so convinced this tool will become an absolute necessity in the office of the future that we are offering to allow all chiropractic education institutions around the worldfree access to this resource with their MANTIS subscription to aid in training future doctors of chiropractic in the art of evidence-based chiropractic care.
The evidence is out there. FCER is working to help you get it, understand it and use it in your practice. Join us.
Click here for previous articles by Reed Phillips, DC, PhD.