- Email: [email protected]
Happy birthday to us!
Clinical Chiropractic (2009) 12, 1—2
www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/clch
EDITORIAL
Happy birthday to us! What were you doing ten years ago today? Personally, I was buying a rail ticket to London for the official launch of the College of Chiropractors, which was due to take place in four days time. It was the result of four years of planning and hard work, following the passing of the Chiropractors’ Act: if chiropractic in the UK was to have a statutory regulatory body, it should follow the path of the other medically regulated professions and have a Royal College, distinct from the professional associations that would henceforth focus more on representing the interests of practitioners. I can recall from one of the earliest meetings of the steering committee that met regularly to plan the events of 1999, being given a piece of advice by the solicitor who was employed to draft the College’s constitution, rules and regulations and to advise on how to proceed with the daunting and tortuous route to royal patronage. ‘‘In ten years time’’ he told us, ‘‘you will being doing things that you not only didn’t imagine but things that you couldn’t imagine.’’ This issue of the journal is devoted to celebrating one of the ‘couldn’ts’. From the outset, the College was clear and simple in its aims: To promote the art, science and practice of chiropractic. To maintain and improve professional standards for the benefit of the public. To advance the study of and research in chiropractic. From these basic tenets, a raft of initiatives, awards, programmes and incentives have arisen covering every aspect of chiropractic life; few chiropractors in the UK have remained untouched in their professional development by the College’s
activities. One area that has proved most challenging has been the final aim — to advance research; research costs money, quite often lots of money. Unlike the Royal Medical Colleges with their oakpanelled chambers in grandiose London buildings, the College of Chiropractors does not have decades of accumulated resources to draw upon; despite this, the record of collaborative research has been impressive if ultimately limited by financial realities. One of the few advantages to fiscal shortcomings is that it removes the temptation to simply throw money at a problem; instead, the worth of every penny needs to be thought about long and hard . . . which is where ideas come from. One idea close to my own heart was the establishment and recognition of designated research clinics. The need for clinical researchers, instigating research that is driven by clinical observation and patient need is something that I have been advocating for years. The limited resources and opportunities may provide only ‘low level’ research — case series, cohort studies and the like — but the findings are based on real patients and real clinicians, not sterilized laboratory findings, and their clinical relevance is, in my oft stated opinion, a key element of evidence based medicine and essential to drive the research process; to initiate the larger, controlled studies that form the basis of clinical guidelines. These clinics were to comprise chiropractors with research interests and experience, willing to develop their own skills, keep an active research interest and to collaborate with other research institutions. Keen to practise what I preach, I signed up in the first wave along with half a dozen others; the numbers have since doubled. The first awards were made at the College’s AGM just two years ago. This issue of the journal, celebrating the achievements of the last ten years, both dreamt of and
1479-2354/$36.00 # 2009 The College of Chiropractors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.clch.2009.04.004
2
Editorial research clinic logo (Figure 1) in addition to the Elsevier and Journal Logos, you will know whence it has come and why. Despite the College’s many achievements, I can think of no better way to celebrate ten years of hard work than to have the College’s own members fill the College’s own journal with their own, clinically derived research.
Figure 1 The College of Chiropractors’ ‘Designated Research Clinic’ logo.
undreamt, focuses on the work of these clinics, which is now starting to come on line. Henceforth, when you see an article that carries the College
Editor, Clinical Chiropractic MartinYoung* *Tel.: +44 0 1865 843418 E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/clch
EDITORIAL
Happy birthday to us! What were you doing ten years ago today? Personally, I was buying a rail ticket to London for the official launch of the College of Chiropractors, which was due to take place in four days time. It was the result of four years of planning and hard work, following the passing of the Chiropractors’ Act: if chiropractic in the UK was to have a statutory regulatory body, it should follow the path of the other medically regulated professions and have a Royal College, distinct from the professional associations that would henceforth focus more on representing the interests of practitioners. I can recall from one of the earliest meetings of the steering committee that met regularly to plan the events of 1999, being given a piece of advice by the solicitor who was employed to draft the College’s constitution, rules and regulations and to advise on how to proceed with the daunting and tortuous route to royal patronage. ‘‘In ten years time’’ he told us, ‘‘you will being doing things that you not only didn’t imagine but things that you couldn’t imagine.’’ This issue of the journal is devoted to celebrating one of the ‘couldn’ts’. From the outset, the College was clear and simple in its aims: To promote the art, science and practice of chiropractic. To maintain and improve professional standards for the benefit of the public. To advance the study of and research in chiropractic. From these basic tenets, a raft of initiatives, awards, programmes and incentives have arisen covering every aspect of chiropractic life; few chiropractors in the UK have remained untouched in their professional development by the College’s
activities. One area that has proved most challenging has been the final aim — to advance research; research costs money, quite often lots of money. Unlike the Royal Medical Colleges with their oakpanelled chambers in grandiose London buildings, the College of Chiropractors does not have decades of accumulated resources to draw upon; despite this, the record of collaborative research has been impressive if ultimately limited by financial realities. One of the few advantages to fiscal shortcomings is that it removes the temptation to simply throw money at a problem; instead, the worth of every penny needs to be thought about long and hard . . . which is where ideas come from. One idea close to my own heart was the establishment and recognition of designated research clinics. The need for clinical researchers, instigating research that is driven by clinical observation and patient need is something that I have been advocating for years. The limited resources and opportunities may provide only ‘low level’ research — case series, cohort studies and the like — but the findings are based on real patients and real clinicians, not sterilized laboratory findings, and their clinical relevance is, in my oft stated opinion, a key element of evidence based medicine and essential to drive the research process; to initiate the larger, controlled studies that form the basis of clinical guidelines. These clinics were to comprise chiropractors with research interests and experience, willing to develop their own skills, keep an active research interest and to collaborate with other research institutions. Keen to practise what I preach, I signed up in the first wave along with half a dozen others; the numbers have since doubled. The first awards were made at the College’s AGM just two years ago. This issue of the journal, celebrating the achievements of the last ten years, both dreamt of and
1479-2354/$36.00 # 2009 The College of Chiropractors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.clch.2009.04.004
2
Editorial research clinic logo (Figure 1) in addition to the Elsevier and Journal Logos, you will know whence it has come and why. Despite the College’s many achievements, I can think of no better way to celebrate ten years of hard work than to have the College’s own members fill the College’s own journal with their own, clinically derived research.
Figure 1 The College of Chiropractors’ ‘Designated Research Clinic’ logo.
undreamt, focuses on the work of these clinics, which is now starting to come on line. Henceforth, when you see an article that carries the College
Editor, Clinical Chiropractic MartinYoung* *Tel.: +44 0 1865 843418 E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com