Constructing a Clinical Experience in the Classroom

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates how contemporary chiropractic education uses authentic “classroom” learning opportunities to prepare students for the clinical practice. Safe professional practice requires a combination of factual knowledge and mastery of those thinking processes required to update and selectively utilise fresh information. This chapter demonstrates how three problem-solving formats can be used to aid students achieve both of these learning objectives. The first scenario describes how, by requiring students to formulate a personal nutrition program, they become aware of the impact dietary choices have on health. An example is then provided of how skills acquired in the area of nutrition can be expanded to incorporate the various dimensions of wellness and transferred into a situation in which a wellness program is negotiated with a client. The final scenario explores how simulated cases can be used in the classroom to create a cognitive environment that simulates and prepares students for the clinical consultation.