BACKGROUND: This report is an examination of the demographics of currently employed chiropractic paraprofessionals, including a compilation and verification of a job analysis. Despite the increasing sophistication and accountability of the chiropractic practice, the chiropractic assistant has not maintained a parallel level of maturity.

METHODS: Three data-gathering instruments were employed: a) a general survey was used to gather demographics; b) a program for developing a curriculum (DACUM) was used to develop a job analysis; and c) a survey was used to verify tasks and duty areas developed by the DACUM meetings.

RESULTS: Demographically, chiropractic paraprofessionals are people with a wide variety of training and duties. Verification surveys of the DACUM model yielded no new tasks or duty areas and assigned relevance to all the tasks listed in the DACUM grid.

CONCLUSIONS: No uniform standard of training or competency testing now exists for the chiropractic paraprofessional. The DACUM grid may serve as a useful model for developing a standard of training or competency.

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