History
The history of chiropractic education began at the Palmer School of Chiropractic, started by the profession’s founder, Daniel David (D.D.) Palmer. The science, art and philosophy of chiropractic evolved from D.D. Palmer’s years of independent research and study of human health and disease. Following the successful application of his knowledge to initial patients in 1895, he shared his findings with others. The first classes of the Palmer School and Cure (later known as the Palmer Infirmary and Chiropractic Institute, the Palmer School of Chiropractic and, finally, Palmer College of Chiropractic) were held in 1897. Palmer is chiropractic’s founding college and is known throughout the profession as The Fountainhead. For more detailed information visit the website at www.palmer.edu.
Identity Statement for Doctors of Chiropractic
The primary care professional for spinal health and well-being.
Chiropractic Pillars
Doctors of Chiropractic:
- Integrate evidence, clinical experience, and patient values and preferences
- Deliver expert chiropractic adjustments, manipulation and other manual treatments
- Embody a tradition of caring, effectiveness and patient satisfaction
- Collaborate and coordinate care with other health professionals
- Enhance patient quality of life and performance
- Promote vitality, wellness and patient empowerment
- Improve quality of life without drugs or surgery
- Offer readily accessible care
Mission
The mission of Palmer College of Chiropractic is to promote learning, deliver health care,
engage our communities and advance knowledge through research.
Vision
Palmer College of Chiropractic strives to be The Trusted Leader in Chiropractic Education®.
Values
The Values of the Palmer College community reflect the science, art and philosophy of chiropractic.
- Academic excellence
- Business acumen
- Collaboration
- Clinical excellence
- Communication
- Community health
- Critical thinking
- Diversity
- Evidence-based chiropractic practice
- Heritage and tradition
- Justice, ethics and integrity
- Life-long learning
- Student success
Philosophy Statement
Chiropractic is a science, art and philosophy. The philosophy of chiropractic is built upon the constructs of vitalism, holism, conservatism, naturalism and rationalism. It provides context for the application of science and art.
Health is a state of optimal physical, emotional and social well-being. Central to the philosophy of chiropractic is the principle that life is intelligent. This innate intelligence strives to maintain a state of health through adaptation mechanisms. The nervous system is recognized as an avenue for these self-regulating processes. Interference with neurological function can impede these mechanisms, disrupt homeostatic balance and adversely impact health. Chiropractic posits that subluxation of the spinal column and other articulations can affect nervous system function and the expression of health, which may result in symptoms, infirmity and disease.
The understanding of the subluxation complex continues to progress from D.D. Palmer’s early writings about misalignment of vertebrae and other articulating structures to include additional anatomical, physiological, biomechanical, chemical and biopsychosocial factors.
Practice Paradigm
Chiropractic focuses on neurological and musculoskeletal integrity, and aims to favorably impact health and well-being, relieve pain and infirmity, enhance performance, and improve quality of life without drugs or surgery.
The Doctor of Chiropractic is a primary care provider for the prevention, diagnosis and conservative management of spine-related disorders and associated locomotor conditions. Serving the patient’s best interest in a professional and ethical manner, the Doctor of Chiropractic employs experience and the best available evidence to make clinical decisions, deliver care and manage identified health concerns and conditions. In addition, Doctor of Chiropractic comply with the laws and regulations governing chiropractic practice in the applicable jurisdiction, including documentation, coding and billing practices.
The practice of chiropractic includes clinically necessary:
- Assessments of a patient’s health status, needs, concerns and conditions by obtaining a case-appropriate history and physical examination, and by acquiring necessary imaging, laboratory or diagnostic studies;
- Consideration of axial (spine) and appendicular (extremity) structure and function, including subluxation, and the status of contiguous muscular and neural systems by means of physical evaluation, imaging and/or special test procedures;
- Patient-centered management consistent with the obtained history, clinical information and diagnoses;
- Care coordination accomplished through goal-oriented management plans that include treatment recommendations intended to favorably influence outcomes, prognosis, risks, behaviors and lifestyle;
- Administration of manual therapeutic procedures such as chiropractic adjustment, manipulation, mobilization or soft tissue techniques—as indicated by the history and clinical examination;
- Use of complementary measures, such as passive modalities, active exercise and rehabilitation, nutritional counseling and supplementation, bracing, strapping and orthoses, and other procedures allowed under respective chiropractic practice acts; and
- Promotion of health, wellness and disease prevention by evaluating relevant indicators and risk factors, and by providing care directed at mitigating health risks and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
The Palmer 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 College of Chiropractic Florida
Port Orange, Florida
Palmer College of Chiropractic West
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 reconfirms Palmer’s role as an innovative, dynamic and exciting community of diverse learners and scholars.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Through persistent professional leadership and competency development, students learn to appreciate and understand the complexity and diversity of human communities and the world in which we live and work. As Doctors of Chiropractic, they will have high expectations of their own efforts and they will 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.
- 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 is unique in chiropractic education.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
The Five Strategic Directions of the College
Direction 1: Student Learning
Provide high-quality, chiropractic-focused academic and clinical research programs for diverse health care settings.
Direction 2: Health Care Delivery
Model and provide chiropractic health care that is evidence-based and integrates patient values and clinician experience.
Direction 3: Service
Promote campus engagement, community service and professional participation.
Direction 4: Resources and Support
Ensure and manage resources and processes in support of College programs and initiatives.
Direction 5: Advancing Knowledge Through Research
Improve human health by advancing knowledge through research.
