The Programme Title, Length and Pattern of Attendance
The programme is delivered over three years and leads to the degree MSc Chiropractic (Paediatrics) awarded by Ulster University.
First Year
- One residential school
- Online real time tutorials/mentoring
- Directed and self directed objective, structured, clinical education
- Clinical Examination at end of academic year in order to progress to Year 2.
Second Year
- One residential school
- On-line real time tutorials/mentoring
- Directed and self-directed objective, structured, clinical education
- Clinical Examination at end of academic year in order to progress to Year 3.
Third Year
Supervised research project incorporating design, implementation and report at a publishable standard.
Programme Rationale
There is an ever-increasing body of knowledge in chiropractic paediatrics and there continues to be a paucity of training at undergraduate level in the fundamentals of safe paediatric health care practices.
The scheme of study therefore is seen as being of major significance and value in providing for those chiropractors who wish to deliver high quality of care to the paediatric population a systematic approach to the body of knowledge and an opportunity to participate in the ongoing process of standardization of the application of that body of knowledge to the individual case presentation.
The importance of the safety of the child is inculcated throughout the programme, from medicolegal considerations including the nature of valid consent, failure to inform or warn and safeguarding in the very first module of the programme, through clinical diagnostics, recognition of serious illness and interprofessional referral as the programme continues. The programme therefore enables the practising chiropractor to identify, in a systematic manner, the boundaries of safe practice and the clinical parameters that identify the need for referral to other health care providers.
Programme Design
The programme has been designed with the following two inter-related necessities in mind:
- The need to meet the stringent academic requirements for qualification at Master level, and
- The need to provide a course of study which is clinically relevant to the chiropractor in general practice who regularly consults patients from the paediatric population presenting with a wide range of health problems
As a consequence of consideration of the above, a bi-modal, objective structured clinical education design has been adopted. Residential school study provides the candidate with an opportunity to be instructed face-to-face and to seek feedback on the quality and correctness of acquired skills, while the coursework per se offers the candidate an opportunity to apply the acquired skills and clinical knowledge in the practice setting.
Throughout the course, each subject calls upon the candidate to utilise skills and knowledge gained from some or all of the previous subjects undertaken. In particular, the subjects in year 2 require the candidate to apply the skills and knowledge gained in the subjects that collectively make up year 1 of the course.
In making the coursework clinically relevant to the chiropractor in practice, assigned tasks require the implementation of learned procedures into daily practice routines. This is then supported by the use of clinical case problem solving from data gleaned on actual patients and that provided in hypothetical scenarios. This combination ensures an adequate coverage of the full range of common presentations affecting each body system.
