No Crystal Ball

I never thought this day would come.  All the requirements to finish at school are nearly complete.  The end is near.

A week remains in my education at Western States and then I will begin a new chapter in Boise Idaho under Dr. Tiegs, a Western States grad who has been in practice for 15 years.  Hopefully, he will be approved by the administration.  If he is not, I will find a different person to work with during the summer.  It is hard to put my ambitions on the back burner right now.  There is no encouragement from our professors besides Dr. Sepulveda, a veteran doctor working at our school only to help us become successful.  I do believe there are others who want the best for us, but their egos cloud these thoughts from ever becoming a reality when we are around them.  Sad for them, their egos cannot control everything.

This Monday, I signed a lease on a space in Boise.  The building is built but the individual spaces are not.  The spaces are currently dirt floors and exposed pipes.  I entered an agreement that risks everything.  If my clinic fails, I will lose a lot.  This is what it takes to become successful though.  Cleverly placed moves during a long drawn out game.  It is fun.  Without this pursuit, I would easily become bored and complacent with it all.  There is only so much evidence-based practice you can take until you can't swallow another ounce of "concealed allocation, blinding of participants and p-values."  I need to witness my dream become physical reality.  In two weeks, they begin building!

On another note, I am going to continue writing in this blog through the summer months to share the experiences I have at Dr. Tiegs office.  That is, if he is approved by our administration.  Unfortunately, there is no crystal ball that tells us anything in life.  And the crystal ball appears quite dismal for preceptorships this year.  We have to roll with the punches and be okay with whatever happens though.  The challenging thing about this is that our future is in the hands of a select few.  They determine which path we take from here.  Their intentions are to find doctors in the field that uphold a standard that is not met by the many in the chiropractic profession.  Unfortunately, many doctors are denied the privilege of having a Western States intern under their guidance.  I think this is a good thing (which may upset some of my friends).  We are trained as primary care doctors and our school holds the profession to a higher standard with this selection process.

Our schools ideology is one that I hope to emulate in practice.  The knowledge I have obtained is far greater than I had ever imagined.  I hoped to get a solid musculoskeletal knowledge base, which I have and after a few years, I now have a vast pool of knowledge in many, many pathologies seen in primary care.  I have even studied minor surgery, despite how it makes me want to puke.  I feel as if I am ready to see any patient and safely make a diagnosis and refer to a specialist if needed.  This is powerful.  We have been taught to keep the patient's interest's first at our school and I do believe this is why we will be accepted by the public more readily and recruited more frequently by medical professionals.  It is this knowledge that will help us build our practices and become long standing, positive members in our communities.

A select few of our class will pursue money making opportunities in chiropractic.  They will buy into a set methodology even though no scientific evidence exists in the paradigm besides a positive cash flow.  My advice for these select few is to stay true to the reasons you initially pursued the doctorate at Western States versus the other options.  You picked UWS for it's evidence-based approach to chiropractic.  You also despise the other lackluster methodologies that plague our highly competent profession.  You probably feel as if the school does everything they can to make your life as hard as possible.  Maybe this stress will push you to rebel against the school's philosophy.  I urge you to recognize that adapting to this stress is a trait that will make you far superior to your counterparts in the field.  You know, quite intimately,  the standards you have had to meet in order to get through this curriculum.  I bet you feel overwhelmed because of it and have lost many hours of sleep because of it too.  Don't discount all that you have achieved.

When you are in the trenches of a doctorate program you tend to internalize a lot of crap.  You focus on details that are only observed by fly's on the wall and you tend to judge all that is thrown at you to a degree that would seem pathologic to anyone short of a doctorate degree.  You have risen to a level of intellect that sets you far apart from most of society.  Don't screw it up.

Provide ethical care my friends.

All for now