President's Report

Peter Werth
In this edition of COCA News you will find an article outlining the World Federation of Chiropractic’s (WFC) Task Force on Identity. This important initiative is an enormous undertaking by the WFC “to try and establish one clear and effective public identity for chiropractic within healthcare services”¹.

It has been argued that over the past generation chiropractic has undergone vast changes in how chiropractors are able to practise, including “increased acceptance of chiropractic and other forms of complementary healthcare, increased competition, and increased third party intervention, reimbursement and control with respect to the delivery of healthcare services” ².

Associated with the growth has been a growing controversy regarding the identity of the profession, and the future direction taken. The WFC have taken up the challenge of this issue as it is ultimately a matter that has significant international implications.

At the WFC”s Biennial Assembly in Orlando, Florida, USA in April 2003 the Assembly agreed on the following;

• the profession did suffer from an unclear identity and position within healthcare,
• this was a major problem for the profession that needed to be corrected, and
• it was appropriate that the WFC now address this problem by means of an international consultation.

The issue was known to be sensitive and opinions wide-ranging, and hence the WFC have taken the view that the process needs to be transparent, inclusive and a fair process. Professional associations, organisations with an interest, such as COCA and individual practitioners views will be sought to enable an identity to be fostered for the benefit of the profession.

It was noted on the WFC website (www.wfc.org) that this process is not intended to define scope of practice ie. to determine “who we are - not what we do” ie. ranging from correcting subluxations versus treating conditions or prescribe vitamins or use of acupuncture etc.

The process is aimed at establishing a public identity for the profession or a branding if you like in the healthcare system as “the leader in alternative care, mainstream specialist care, primary care, spine care, holistic care, hands-on and drug-free care etc” ².

This is a vast undertaking by the WFC, and they are to be congratulated for their leadership in this important initiative. I will not pre-empt any direction that may evolve from this process, apart from suggest that you reflect on the issues relating to this process so that when the opportunity arises (via a survey to be circulated) you are able to comment in a constructive and objective manner.

Elsewhere in COCA News you will see what some noted authorities have thought about the identity issue.

Moving to other matters, you may have seen the 2004 COCA national conference advertised in the last issue. Unfortunately due to matters which have been out of our control we are postponing the conference until October 2005. In doing this the Executive regrets needing to make this decision, but this should enable the 2005 conference to be exceptional.

COCA has been proud to be one of the supporting organisations for another big event, The World Congress on Low Back & Pelvic Pain is to be held in Melbourne 10th - 13th November 2004 (see enclosed brochure or visit www.worldcongresslbp.com). This truly multidisciplinary conference promises to be one of the biggest conferences of this type to come to Australia. We have been very impressed with the calibre of the program and the organisation of the event (refer to article).

In recognising the importance of this conference COCA has taken the opportunity to hold our AGM to coincide with this conference. The COCA AGM will be held on Friday 12th November, so it is an excellent opportunity to come to Melbourne to be part of a world-class conference.

The COCA Executive continues to source benefits for our members, with the emphasis being on enabling you to keep abreast of the latest information. To help facilitate this process we have in place our arrangement with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Library service which is a free service to all COCA members. All you need to do is register via the enclosed fax registration form to access this excellent online service.

If you don’t have the time to search the net then The Backletter publication by LWW is an easy to read synopsis of the latest research and trends in spine care. It is the ideal reference source for busy practitioners and I recommend it highly. For more information about this publication contact the COCA office or visit the COCA website.

We are also pleased to announce that COCA has been able to secure a special subscription rate for COCA members for the leading journal in the field Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT). This journal is widely regarded at the premiere peer reviewed journal in chiropractic, and was the first chiropractic journal to be indexed by Index Medicus. Details regarding this special offer are inserted with this edition.

If you have any suggestions of other benefits like these that you feel would be of interest to members please email me your suggestions to peter.werth@coca.com.au.

References:

1. The Chiropractic Report March 2004 Vol 18 No. 2.
2. WFC Consultation on the Identity of the Chiropractic Profession, An international consultation seeking consensus on identity. Notice of Consultation, November 21, 2003. (www.wfc.org).