At the 2018 National Chiropractic Leadership Conference (NCLC), the newly formed ACA Commission on Diversity presented its first report to attendees at the House of Delegates meeting. The commission is a task force whose function is to “help ACA achieve a deeper understanding of diversity issues in chiropractic generally and ACA specifically. The commission is charged with generating a strategic road map for ACA's Board of Governors, outlining ways ACA can become more diverse, improve the practice success of our women and minority members, serve diverse populations within the American population better, as well as other diversity issues of which ACA leadership should be aware.”

Just over one year removed from graduation, I feel like I am a competent practitioner. But being simply competent isn’t enough--being the best that I can be is my goal. Thinking back, I realize there were a handful of things I could have done in school that would have benefitted me in the working world. On occasion, when I'm working on a particularly difficult patient, I reflect on my undergraduate and graduate school careers and sometimes think, “If I could redo it, I would.…” We all have things in our lives we wish we could change; that’s just part of living. What if we didn’t make those mistakes in the first place? We can’t change it, but I realized that others can learn from our mistakes. I am writing this blog post with that in mind. I want to share, as a new doctor, the things that I would do differently and what some of my more experienced peers would do differently.

The public primarily perceives the chiropractic profession as a healthcare discipline involved with the management of spine-related pain and disability. Unfortunately, the current state of spine care in the United States is dominated by specialists, who tend to function in isolation, with minimal communication between providers. While this may have been the way it has been in the past, we feel it doesn’t have to--and shouldn’t--stay this way. Regardless of the practice setting, we believe all DCs have opportunities to improve patient care by adopting a more interprofessional approach to care.

Anticipation for the McAndrews Leadership Lecture at this year’s National Chiropractic Leadership Conference (NCLC 2018) was heightened by the mystery surrounding the title of the talk – “Grilled Cheese, Candles and Beer”—and what it could possibly have to do with leadership. Presenter Stephen M. Perle, DC, MS, a respected author, journal editor, lecturer and professor of clinical sciences at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic, not only served some valuable lessons based on his personal experiences and observations on leading “from the middle,” in the end he gave all gathered plenty to chew on.