Educational Principles

The following is a statement of educational principles held by Palmer College of Chiropractic, which is comprised of three campuses in:

Main campus
Davenport, Iowa

Branch campuses
Palmer Florida in Port Orange, Florida

Palmer West in San Jose, California

Palmer College of Chiropractic recognizes the need to maintain an optimum learning environment through a sustained commitment to excellence and continual improvement. The following reconfirm Palmer’s role as an innovative, dynamic and exciting community of diverse learners and scholars.

1. Palmer College embraces the philosophy that life is intelligent and that the human body possesses an inherent potential to maintain itself in a natural state of homeostasis through its innate/inborn intelligence. Moreover, the science of chiropractic emphasizes the relationship between structure and function, primarily that between the spinal column and the nervous system. Implicit within this statement is the significance of the nervous system to health and the effect of the subluxation complex upon the nervous system and, therefore, the body.
2. Palmer College is a learning community. The College is dedicated to developing, sustaining and refining a vertically and horizontally integrated chirocentric curriculum where excellence in teaching and learning is realized throughout the academic and the clinical experience. () As the premier institution of chiropractic education, Palmer College is dedicated to offering students an exceptional education through a curriculum that is dynamic in nature. Palmer College encourages students to be health-care professionals who make a difference in the community and in the world because they have learned to observe, think, question, imagine, serve and speak out based on the ethics they embrace and the education they have acquired. Palmer College exists to serve students and to promote student growth and development.
3. Palmer College encourages its students to become life-long learners. Students interact with administrators, faculty, staff and alumni, exposing them to the excitement of learning and discovery.
4. Through persistent professional leadership and competency development, students learn to appreciate and understand the complexity and diversity of the world in which we live and work. As doctors of chiropractic, they’ll have high expectations of their own efforts and they’ll see learning as extending far beyond the classroom and clinic to their life responsibilities as health care professionals. Palmer College is dedicated to teaching students how to learn.
5. Palmer College expects faculty to be effective teachers, productive scholars and focused academicians. The three are inextricably intertwined. Effective teaching over a career can only be maintained through productive scholarship. In its various forms, scholarship enhances excellence in the classroom and the clinic. Focused academicians, demonstrating mastery of a chosen field, inspire student learning. At Palmer, the faculty are competent academicians who pursue teaching as one type of scholarship. Having creative scholars who teach and teachers who are creative scholars fosters a learning atmosphere that’s unique in chiropractic education.
6. Palmer College is committed to developing the finest chiropractic clinicians. Students are encouraged to focus on wellness promotion, health assessment, diagnosis and the chiropractic management of the patient’s health care needs. Palmer succeeds because its graduates are inspired by a broader vision using the knowledge and abilities they’ve acquired to form values and to serve the common good. Students train their minds, sensibilities and abilities for a lifetime of critical, independent thought and commitment to personal, professional and community service.
7. Palmer College is committed to the advancement of the chiropractic profession. The College community of administrators, faculty, staff, alumni and students are encouraged to communicate and collaborate with others in the profession. The exchange of ideas and synergistic effect of collaborations leads to greater accomplishments for the profession than would be possible through individual efforts. The College is dedicated to advancing awareness and appreciation of chiropractic and chiropractic education around the world by the most efficient and effective means.
8. Palmer College is dedicated to the welfare and success of its students. Through the Palmer learning experience, students are prepared to develop and refine:

• • Lifelong learning skills and habits
  • Critical thinking skills
  • Written, verbal and listening communication skills
  • Leadership qualities and management skills
  • A sense of service to patients, the profession and the community
  • A consistent application of ethics in their practice of chiropractic
  • An ability to make substantive contributions to the interdisciplinary health-care environment
  • An ability to make a contribution to the development of a rational system of “wellness” health care
  • An ability to apply evidence-based reasoning in determining the needs of their patients
  • An ability to be successful in current and emerging business management and reimbursement systems
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