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2021-2022 Academic Catalog 
    
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2021-2022 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Doctor of Chiropractic Program

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The Doctor of Chiropractic Program

Life University’s College of Chiropractic offers a multilevel approach to chiropractic education. Basic and clinical sciences are taught concurrently with a variety of chiropractic techniques. Students are permitted to provide chiropractic care to patients during their third academic year; however, they must have first learned how to analyze and report on the total health picture of the patient. The College of Chiropractic curriculum is structured to help chiropractic students develop, through a logical and sequential course of study, the skill and knowledge necessary to become a primary healthcare clinician skilled in chiropractic patient education and management. This endeavor is accomplished through a comprehensive practical and didactic clinical experience. The importance of maintaining patient spinal structural integrity and a wellness-based lifestyle are stressed throughout the curriculum.

During the first two quarters, students are given an overview of chiropractic history, philosophy and science, while simultaneously studying the basic sciences to gain an understanding of the relationship between structure and function in the human organism. Students also begin their in-depth study of chiropractic analysis during their second and third quarters. In the fourth quarter, a student begins to merge basic science with hands-on chiropractic experience, taking courses in upper cervical specific technique and physical examination. In the fifth quarter, they begin to learn the Full Spine Technique and orthopedic evaluations. During the eighth quarter, students enter the Student Clinic. By the tenth quarter, they will have completed sufficient course and clinical work, which will qualify them to render chiropractic care in an outpatient setting.

Special State Licensure Requirements

For information concerning the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners board score requirements and/or undergraduate degree requirements, contact the chiropractic examining board of the respective state in which licensure is desired. This information can also be found on the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards website at www.fclb.org. The University’s Office of Enrollment Services, Student Administrative Services and the Dean’s Office may also be used as additional resources for information. If you have any questions regarding the requirements for a particular State Board including Physio-Therapeutics, you will need to contact that State’s licensing board office for more information. For a directory of state licensing requirements visit the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Board.

NBCE Eligibility  (Information and Requirements/Rules for Certification of Eligibility) 

Graduation Ceremony Participation Requirements

Doctor of Chiropractic students may participate in the graduation ceremonies if they have already completed or are scheduled to complete their requirements in the quarter in which they are graduating. Ceremonies will be held four times per year: March, June, September and December.

Graduation Requirements:

The Life University degree of Doctor of Chiropractic is presented to students who have fulfilled each of the following requirements:

  1. Satisfactory completion of at least the equivalent of four and two-thirds academic years (14 quarters) of prescribed study, and must have earned not less than the final 25% of the total credits required from the Doctor of Chiropractic Program conferring the degree
  2. Satisfactory completion of all required courses and clinic requirements with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0
  3. Recommendations for graduation by the faculty
  4. Registrar Office requirements:
    1. File a petition to graduate
    2. Completion of a formal academic record review no earlier than one quarter before intended graduation
    3. If federal loans were borrowed, must complete Exit Counseling online at www.StudentAid.gov
  5. Freedom from all indebtedness (including library) and other obligations to the University

*NO DIPLOMA OR TRANSCRIPT WILL BE RELEASED UNTIL ALL FINANCIAL OR OTHER OBLIGATIONS TO THE UNIVERSITY HAVE BEEN CLEARED.

Course of Study

Courses are identified by offering quarters, subject/department designation, four (4) digit course number, course title, lecture, lab and credit hours.

The four (4) digit course number is designed as follows; the first digit represents the academic class level freshman = 1 through senior = 4 and electives = 5. The second digit represents the academic level equivalency from 500-800 used by most post baccalaureate programs and higher. The third and fourth digits represent the course identifier including level and sequence. See course descriptions below for additional information.

The numbers in parentheses listed following the course description, i.e. Credit Hours:  (2-1-2.5), are explained below:

  • The first digit is the number of lecture quarter credit hours for the course.
  • The second digit is the number of laboratory quarter credit hours for the course.
  • The third digit is the number of credit hours for the course.

A credit hour is a standard measure of the amount of instructional time required to successfully complete a course and is formally defined to conform to accepted practices in higher education and keeping with federal guidelines (See Credit Hour Policy).Two contact hours of laboratory work per week for eleven (11) weeks, or its equivalent, is equal to one-quarter credit hour. A minimum of two contact hours of clinical work per week for eleven (11) weeks, or its equivalent, is equal to one-quarter credit hour. Additional clinical work is expected in professional programs to meet either patient or clinic needs and as directed by clinician of record.

The following represents the current professional course of the study for the Doctor of Chiropractic Program.

Curriculum

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Fifth Quarter

Sixth Quarter

Seventh Quarter

Eighth Quarter

Ninth Quarter

Tenth Quarter

Eleventh Quarter

Twelfth Quarter

Thirteenth Quarter

Fourteenth Quarter

OR

Alternative Fourteenth Quarter

Total: 342 Credit Hours/4956 Contact Hours

All required courses that make up the curriculum must be taken to earn the Doctor of Chiropractic degree.

The College of Chiropractic has performed a structural resequencing of its prerequisites that supports the acceleration of a student’s progression to completion of the Doctor of Chiropractic Program. This structural resequencing of the prerequisites were effective for each student in the Doctor of Chiropractic program starting Winter Quarter 2019. 

Electives

Students, in order to graduate, must satisfactorily complete a minimum of:

  1. 18 credits of electives, or
  2. 12 credits of electives and either an Immersion or an International Clinic, or
  3. 10 credits of electives if completing the Research Track  

All Students may select from any of the following elective course offerings when they complete enough coursework to achieve 10th quarter clinic status (Pre-registration for 9th quarter students going into 10th).

For those students dually enrolled in the Master’s Program, they may select from the following 5600 elective courses listed below prior to beginning in their 10th quarter of study.

PUBH 5541  or PUBH 5543  may be taken after completing CLIN 3608 , and PUBH 5545  may be taken after completion of both PUBH 5541  and PUBH 5543 .

Electives offered directly by Chiropractic College

Electives Cross-listed From College of Graduate Studies and Research’s Master’s Program (MSHS)

Note(s):

bPUBH 3684  , PUBH 5541  , PUBH 5543  is required to satisfy the 120 hours needed to perform Physiotherapeutics (PHT) and be eligible to take PHT National Board.

+Clinical Therapeutic Practicums are coordinated by the Department of Functional Kinesiology in the Center for Health Optimum Performance (C-HOP).

mAdditional courses that can be used toward Maryland’s PT requirement of 270 hours

Course Load – Doctor of Chiropractic Degree

  1. The Doctor of Chiropractic Program expects students to complete a minimum of 18 credits per quarter.
  2. All DC students are expected to be registered for a minimum of 18 credit hours unless they are under special contract and/or by academic probation policy.
  3. Students in good academic standing may request in writing to take more than 27.5 credit through the Dean’s office.

All required courses must be completed at Life University unless students have been given advanced standing credit for courses of substantially equivalent credit, time, quality and content which have been completed at an accredited college or university, or which meet a specific set of criteria with regard to elective requirements.

Students awarded the D.C. degree must have earned not less than the final 25% of the total credits required for the degree from the Doctor of Chiropractic program conferring the degree.

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