As the weeks tick by in private practice, my ideology is tested daily. If you have read the previous blog posts, you know the ideology of chiropractic I have tried to portray over the years. When you go into business these ideals are tested and retested daily.
Everyone wants to make a buck. It is all about 'my' rent and 'my' car and 'my' student loans. Who cares about the patient and what 'they' really need, right?
Of course, this is not how my clinic operates. We do not create dependency on passive treatments. We use passive treatments to restore function to dyfunctional regions of the body. Once function has been restored with manual therapy, we utilize this new functioning system to create stability and strength to the area. The lack of stability and strength is largely the reason why the region became dysfunctional in the first place.
The biggest problem with my profession is that we are forced into a small business mindset and this creates mindless technicians. Yes, I could easily have patients come back over and over for passive care to simply alleviate their pain for a short timeframe. However, I am against this because this would push me into the category of chiropractors that disgusts me and the public. Dare to be different!
How can you make a small business tick without repeat customers? My answer: focus on quality care and wait for referrals. This takes patience and consistency with care.
If you believe our role in health care is to extinguish fires, then you fall into the technician category. If you feel it is important to diagnose, treat and prevent issues from occurring later on, I'd say you are a modern chiropractic physician and you deserve the recognition from the public and your peers in medicine.
What if the patient gets better and a large void develops in my schedule? If you truly care about getting people better, they will not only pay more for the quality services but they will also refer their friends and family because they trust you. In the long run, you have built an ethical practice which follows the Hippocratic Oath and this creates a foundation for our profession to be fairly judged from.
Be thorough and be patient.
All for now,
Dr. Spangler
Trailhead Chiropractic
Excellent article! I could not agree with you more...treat people right and have their best interest at heart and you will develop a loyal following, don't and you will always be looking for new patients. People know the difference between the two.
ReplyDeletePaula Kerr Massage Therapist 18 years in practice.