Nicole Giove is in her third year at Life Chiropractic College West. As a student who transferred from another chiropractic college, she has a unique perspective on the culture of Life West and can compare it to other learning experiences.
Nicole Giove
I started at Life West as a new student. I wanted the full experience and knew that coming in as a transfer would put my schedule all over the board. I am very thankful I did; it allowed me to become a part of the community. I quickly learned that at Life West, there is so much more to chiropractic than diversified adjusting. I learned how toxins, traumas, and thoughts truly will affect the functioning of your physiology … optimally or inflamed and weak.
I also learned, just in passing through the halls, the multiple techniques we have the freedom to use. I had never seen a Gonstead cervical chair, or a knee-chest table, or even an activator table. Instructors such as Dr. Beverly Scott walked us through, in small groups, bony landmarks in anatomy on models and drawing examples – because, after all, most of us in this field are kinesthetic learners. Another faculty member, Dr. Loretta O’Brien, used duct tape on spine and pelvis models to teach us about the functionality of ligaments. Even in my board exams for part 1s, two years later, I envisioned the colorful duct tape we placed on the models in my mind in order to answer the questions.
I was surprised to see how students didn’t necessarily get burned out from classes, but rather from seminars and trying to juggle so many clubs. The excitement and passion for this profession is so strong at Life West.
I was excited to see how involved the student body was overall. In fact, I was surprised to see how students didn’t necessarily get burned out from classes, but rather from seminars and trying to juggle so many clubs. The excitement and passion for this profession is so strong at Life West.
Even when entering our first adjusting classes, students have a required number of soap notes to complete. Soap notes showed we had done an analysis to see what subluxations we needed to adjust and documented it. This gave us the opportunity to adjust under the supervision of the doctor assisting students in open lab. We could not adjust in open lab, unless we had a properly written soap note for a doctor to sign off and watch to give feedback. This helped us so much when entering student clinic because we had been doing this for quarters now. It gave us the freedom to play with multiple analysis platforms when finding the subluxations, as we began to develop our own craft.
Here I am now. Entering Clinic 1, about to start caring for outpatients, and what a ride it has been. I still have insecurities as I get comfortable with adjusting and practicing my craft, but that is all part of the process as we complete the final year, bringing everything together into the final product of knowledge.
The future feels bright, as I tie up the final loose ends in the last phase of my education at Life West and begin to consider full-time positions as an associate.
