Northeast Instructor Oversees Comprehensive Care Clerkships, Guides Student Success
Meet Dr. Timothy Whiting.
Seneca Falls Health Center, faculty clinician/instructor
As a pre-health undergraduate at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, Dr. Timothy Whiting (D.C. '14) wasn't sure where his career path would take him--until he received chiropractic care for a back injury. So impressed with that care, Whiting ended up shadowing his chiropractor. "I fell in love with the profession," he said. After a visit to Northeast, he also fell in love with the College.
"It had a great reputation as far as education and board scores went, so it was really easy to decide that Northeast was the place to pursue my education," Whiting added.
Today, Whiting is a faculty clinician at Northeast's Seneca Falls Health Center, where he mentors students during their year-long, immersive clinical clerkship. He prepares students for everyday life and success as a doctor by letting them take the lead. And, students are thriving.
"At our Northeast College health centers, we believe our doctor-driven model and our outpatient centers powerfully prepare students for real-world experiences," he says. "Students work directly under our licenses as chiropractors. We bill insurance companies, take workers comp, treat Medicare patients and prepare students for everything from taking a history and performing exams to treating patients and documenting to meet the stringent requirements of insurance companies."
Northeast Sets High Standard for Clinical Education, Students Thrive.
It is the comprehensive care that sets Northeast apart, says Whiting. Other colleges, for example, may feature clinical work, but Northeast's broad range of patients means students work with individuals from infants to the elderly. They may treat athletes at a local college or work in free care clinics or VA hospitals. Overall, Whiting says, students will perform more than a thousand adjustments over their time at the College, including a minimum of 150 in a clinical setting.
Students thrive in these environments because they are receiving feedback every day, on the spot, Whiting said. "During the clinical experience, we have a mentor-style relationship with our students. During every patient encounter, every time they take a history, every time they make an adjustment, right in the treatment room, we will critique and fix things and talk through the experience."
It is the comprehensive care that sets Northeast apart. Northeast's broad range of patients means students are working with individuals from infants to the elderly. Overall, (doctor of chiropractic) students will perform more than a thousand adjustments over their time at the College, including a minimum of 150 in a clinical setting.
A few questions with Dr. Timothy Whiting.
How does the Northeast College "home site and rotations" clinical experience enable students to build confidence and competence?
Students begin to treat students, staff and faculty in the seventh trimester. After that, we have a wide range of clinical opportunities. Students will treat patients at one of our outpatient health centers. Through that location, we also offer rotations at colleges such as Hobart and William Smith College, where we treat athletes. We work in free care sites and hospital settings as well. These experiences prepare students to treat a wide range of patients.
What types of career pathways exist for Doctor of Chiropractic graduates?
Most of our chiropractic students end up working in private practice. Some start their own practice. Other opportunities include VA residencies, and one of the largest growth areas in chiropractic right now is in hospitals. Some graduates work with sports teams, and some will go into free care, working in clinics in underserved areas. Some go back into education.
What sets the Northeast College clinical experience apart from other chiropractic colleges?
The doctor-driven model allows students to work directly alongside us and under our license to treat patients and actually bill for services. Working at a billing clinic allows students to gain insights into diagnostic and procedural coding. When we're dealing with insurance companies, there is an extremely high standard that we must uphold. We believe that this makes us unique. There are no surprises upon graduation. Our students have already experienced the entire process and are prepared to practice as soon as they receive their diplomas and license.
The definition of chiropractic is 'done by hand.' We're one of the few professions where we still use our hands as our main tools, both for diagnostic and for treatment purposes.
