26 Key Attributes Chiropractors Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Michael Davis

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Chiropractors assess, treat, and care for patients by manipulation of spine and musculoskeletal system. They may also provide spinal adjustment or address sacral or pelvic misalignment.

The core tasks that chiropractors are likely to carry out include:

Diagnose health problems by reviewing patients' health and medical histories, questioning, observing, and examining patients and interpreting x-rays.
Maintain accurate case histories of patients.
Evaluate the functioning of the neuromuscularskeletal system and the spine using systems of chiropractic diagnosis.
Perform a series of manual adjustments to the spine or other articulations of the body to correct the musculoskeletal system.
Obtain and record patients' medical histories.
Advise patients about recommended courses of treatment.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that chiropractors would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 98%

Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 96.6%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 95.8%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.8%

Being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 92.6%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 91.8%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 90.6%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.6%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86%

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 86%

Having a strong preference for social work environments. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 85.71%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.6%

Preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.8%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.4%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.4%

A willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.8%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 82%

Having a strong preference for investigative work environments. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 81%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%