Year 1
At Residential Schools these face-to-face teaching programmes are very much focused on skill acquisition. Intensive teaching in these skill areas is critical to the success of the candidate as they embark on the Year 1 practice learning that is strongly oriented toward applying what is learned at the clinical interface between patient and practitioner.
Further supervised clinical training is undertaken in the form of collecting clinical data from patient consultations, recording it in a required format and reporting on it to the study supervisor via a series of structured assignments.
Year 2
In second year Residential School, candidates are grouped into small study cells. Each cell is asked to work as a group in solving clinical problems in an interactive learning environment in addition to consulting patients as a group at the paediatric outpatient clinic. A study supervisor presents each case study and all consultations with patients are fully supervised. A case conference is held at the conclusion of each consultation.
As in the first year, the study materials are designed to focus the candidates learning on the patient-practitioner interface and all the assignments are designed to reinforce the process of clinical decision-making.
Throughout the programme, candidates are expected to see an increasing number of paediatric patients in their private practices. These patients provide a rich source of learning for the candidate as they apply the skills they have acquired to each patient presentation. Support for the candidate is provided in the form of an on-line clinical advisory service. Advice is available to candidates in relation to patient presentations from a number of chiropractors in different countries around the world and a number of medical specialists all of whom are actively engaged in paediatric health care.
In addition, clinical observation time is available at the McTimoney College of Chiropractic outpatient clinic when suitably qualified study supervisors are available to attend the clinic.
Clinical Exit Examination
At the end of the second year and after the satisfactory completion of all clinical learning assignments and the Residential Schools, candidates may undertake their exit examination. This examination takes the form of a structured clinical challenge conducted by a study supervisor. The exam is based on one long case and a series of shorter cases. In addition there is a viva voce examination that focuses on the candidates general paediatric knowledge drawn from the entire programme.
