The Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research has profoundly impacted me despite the short time frame of 2 months. Before learning of the PCCR, I had never thought of a career in chiropractic research. My experience at the PCCR has not only verified my desire to further my education to become a chiropractor but has also opened my eyes to other paths I could follow after receiving my Doctorate of Chiropractic.
My last day at the PCCR :(Most of my job as a research assistant was comprised of different tasks to help with the planning of several studies. I sat in on team meetings for two ongoing studies, one of which I was assisting with. I learned a lot about what it looks like behind the scenes in research and tasks that are overlooked but important in the grand scheme of things. I learned a lot about different settings where chiropractors work and the different paths I could pursue as a chiropractor. I spent a lot of time navigating different websites and organizing recruitment information. One thing I didn’t anticipate for this internship was becoming more confident with understanding and interpreting clinical research methods, which was successful.
Throughout my experience, I learned a lot of lessons about patience and collaboration. Some of the work I did was tedious but important. I had never given much thought to all the work that goes on behind the scenes of experiments, and I learned very quickly from all the people I talked to that research is a waiting game. I also saw how diverse the teams for studies are. When I sat in on meetings for the VERDICT study, people with different specializations were collaborating from all over the US. I was naive to different specializations not only within chiropractic but also within chiropractic research. All the people I worked with in the PCCR building had different specialties and areas of focus that I continued to learn about over the two months.
A picture of the team during the weekly QI study meetingAfter getting a glimpse of the wide variety of specializations and areas of focus, I spent some time learning about and thinking about different specialties that were of interest to me to follow in my education and career. I sat in on a few Clinical Nutrition and Foundations of Nutrition classes at Palmer. Nutrition is something that I want to further my education in and implement into my future practice. I also found the neuroscience and biology of pain to be a passionate topic of mine. I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about ways that I could bring this topic to Cornell and implement it into my coursework. I have a research block planned out for the first semester of the 2024 school year, and I plan to bring that topic into that block. A goal of mine coming into this internship was to gain more experience reading scientific literature. That goal was not only reached but continues to be exceeded by my desire to continue consuming research articles in these new areas of interest.
Outside of the Palmer Research Center, I had the opportunity to shadow other courses in the Palmer chiropractic program and spent some time shadowing in the clinic. My experience with the block plan at Cornell aided in my ability to maximize the short time frame that I had at Palmer and the PCCR. I knew coming into this experience that two months in research was a very short period, but I felt comfortable knowing that I was prepared to learn as much as possible and fall into the swing of things quickly. I loved every second of my time at the PCCR and it changed my life in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. My experience, while short, opened my eyes to different ways of thinking and addressing chiropractic care. I would strongly recommend this experience to anyone thinking about pursuing a chiropractic career, regardless of knowing if they want to pursue a research career or not.
Signing off for the summer,
Kylie