May a Student Intern Treat Patients in my Office?

This week we cover the process of bringing in a student to act as a chiropractic student intern in your office.  Watch the video to learn more!

Transcript:

I hope everyone’s having a fantastic week. One of the questions that we get on a regular basis, in fact, I got it again today, is, can we bring on preceptors into our office? And how does that whole function and structure work? The answer to that question is actually convoluted, and here’s why, is because a number of years ago, over a decade ago, they removed the preceptor, the preceptorship section, out of the Medical Practice Act. They just eliminated it all together, except for they did add another section that gives a lot of clarity. And so here’s where a lot of that clarity comes in. And the way it works is, in order to bring a student, a chiropractic student, into your office to act as a preceptor or to act as if you will, an intern in your office, the only way to functionally do that is if you are a faculty member, an educational faculty member of a chiropractic college that has been approved by CCE.

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So you know, in our area, typically it’s going to be your Logans, your Nationals, and your Palmer. And so each of those schools have their different preceptor programs established and there’s ways to get that done, and some of you actually are acting as preceptors now. So the way that those programs work is, is you actually end up becoming a faculty member of that school, and then you’re taking on different preceptors or interns, or whatever term you would like to use, because preceptor in Illinois, there’s not a legal term for that and in those cases, then you’re able to allow them to treat patients under your on-premises supervision. So the key to that is actually, as the preceptor, you actually have to be on the premises. So you can’t just allow them to treat your patients while you’re off getting lunch or on vacation or whatever the case is, you actually have to be on-premises, and you have to be the one that is the faculty member of the school.

Now, what are the dangers if you don’t follow these guidelines? Well, they’re fairly significant, because what happens is upon application for licensure, the candidate for licensure has to list all of their places of employment. And if they list your place of employment a standard practice if they list a medical practice or a chiropractic practice or whatever the cases, as one of their places of employment, a standard practice of the department is to department is to bring them in for an interview and just ask them what all they did while they were in there, and while they were working for, if you will, your clinic. If you have them doing adjustments or physician-only tasks, undelegated tasks like that, and you are not established correctly as a faculty member of one of the CCE-approved schools. Then, at that stage, they are actually in violation, and their potential of getting a license just went down considerably. In fact, it’ll be a big challenge for them to be able to get licensed in Illinois, because they were in violation of law even before they got here.

Now the challenge for you as a physician also is great, because at that stage, then you would be aiding and embedding the practice of unlicensed medicine. And so that is the challenge. Now, is it possible? Absolutely, it happens all the time, and it happens well within the confines of what is required under the law. In fact, the way the Medical Practice Act reads is chiropractic students or candidates for the degree of doctor of chiropractic, enrolled in a chiropractic college accredited by CCE, may practice under the direct on-premises supervision of a chiropractic physician who is a member of the faculty of an accredited chiropractic college. So you can see they make it really abundantly clear, yes, it’s possible. Yes, you’ve got to be on faculty and at that stage, and yes, you have to be on-premises and at that stage, then they can practice in your practice, and be able to help and assist and treat patients in your practice. So hopefully you find that information valuable, and we’ll catch you next week. Thank you.