Maiers Delivers Keynote at WFC Biennial Congress
Michele Maiers, DC, PhD, MPH, delivered the keynote address at the 17th World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) Biennial Congress. The congress, held in Queensland this October, highlighted patient-centered, inter-professional and collaborative care.
Patients as Drivers of Healthcare
Dr. Maiers opened the first session of the conference with her presentation: What Does it Take to Be Person Centered? Behaviors, Skills and Competencies. She described how chiropractors can best equip themselves to deliver people-centered solutions in a constantly changing healthcare environment.
In the summary of her presentation, Dr. Maiers emphasized best practices. They include building rapport, using open-ended questions, goal setting, cultural competency and eventually individual self-management.
She offers, “While not a wholesale shift, person-centered care builds on patient-centered practices to focus on what matters to an individual patient, and how you as a healthcare provider can support their health goals to enable a meaningful life. With reflection, the chiropractic profession is well positioned to evolve patient-centered practices into person-centered ones, and contribute to people-centered healthcare within communities.”
About the Biennial Congress
The WFC conference provided a wide range of workshops and showcased original and published research. Doctor of Chiropractic from all over the world were in attendance. Countries represented included the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden, the UK, Norway, Philippines, Denmark, Honk Kong, South Africa and Switzerland.
The conference addressed important topics including equity, diversity and inclusivity, patient experiences, contextual factors, individualized care plans, lifelong deliver of care, patient safety and communication, and social determinants of care.
About Dr. Maiers
Dr. Maiers is the Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Northwestern Health Sciences University and the co-director of the Center for Collaborative Research in Complementary and Integrated Health at the Rand Corporation.
Story by Kit Harlow, Chiropractic Student