Doctor of Chiropractic Curriculum Overview

NWHSU’s Doctor of Chiropractic Curriculum is the only Competency-Centered model in the country. What does that mean?

  • Clinical Internships Starting Trimester One. And your clinical experience only grows from there, we offer more practice than anywhere else, with the most internship sites.  
  • Learn Everything You Came Here to Learn. Competency-Centered assessment means you won’t slip through the cracks without learning every skill we’ve identified as vital. And when something isn’t clicking for you? We’ll catch it early and help you succeed.  
  • Classes and Professors that Work Together. We’ve de-siloed our curriculum, so you’ll experience professors team teaching to help you understand the connections between your courses, and how it all applies to clinical practice.  
  • Flipped Classrooms to Fit How You Want to Learn. Most lectures will be hybrid allowing you to learn in the way that works best for you and maximizing your on-campus time.  

Gain chiropractic expertise in real clinics with real patients

In addition to your chiropractic courses, you’ll develop clinical skills alongside licensed chiropractors—first observing, then assisting, and ultimately treating patients yourself, with experienced clinicians as your mentors.

NWHSU’s clinical education program is the best in the country. We offer real-time assessment, the most internship sites, and an opportunity to complete a preceptorship during your last trimester. Plus, we recruit patients for you, so you can focus on skill building.

Experience Immediate Clinical Exposure

Starting with your first trimester through trimester 5, you’ll observe licensed chiropractors treating patients in their private practices and at NWHSU’s public clinics. You’ll begin learning to think like a Doctor of Chiropractic through your clinical observation experiences.

Develop Your Skills with Real Patients

In trimesters 6–10, you’ll take on increasing levels of responsibility in treating patients. You’ll become more technically proficient, interpersonally competent, and capable of managing your own practice. In trimesters 8-10 you will train in community-based internships (CBI). These practices are found throughout the metro and within a 100-mile radius of the school You’ll work in established practices, treating a variety of patients with a range of clinical issues. Then, in trimester 10—the culmination of your chiropractic schooling—you’ll have the opportunity to intern at a clinic in the United States, or even abroad.