April 2004

Are you the doctor of choice?

by Dr. Timothy Gay

Throughout the day when you're taking care of patients, many of the conversations you have will determine whether or not you are the doctor who's been chosen as the doctor of choice.

Several factors come into play when we've been good enough to become our patients' doctor of choice:

***  Understanding that what the principle and values of chiropractic can do for our patients is far beyond the symptom model of care.

While we have the ability to change a patient's health and well‑being over a lifetime, we only offer a limited amount of patient care. Patients need to be told at the very beginning that the care they receive can help them transform into healthier people based upon the decisions they make.

The symptom model is not working. Patients who have been educated in this model continue to have reoccurring health problems that have been based on old perceptions and end up leaving our offices in search of some other method.

***  In order to deliver the necessary type of patient care, we have to look at ourselves and become purpose‑driven for our patients.

That means we must ask the question "why." Wondering why you do what you do will hopefully drive you to the answer. Know why it is important to help that patient manage his or her health for a lifetime ‑‑ not just for a few months or less. Our patients come to us not only to get out of pain, but look to us for the answers to their health care needs. We, in turn, have a responsibility to answer those questions.

***  It is a duty for us to educate on every visit and start teaching the fundamentals of wellness by shifting thought from the old health paradigm and start creating a new one.

The educational materials in your office must be up to date and the patient needs to have access to an information center in your office with pamphlets. There should be studies validating the work that is currently being done in our profession on a scientific level. This is the area that is most important. That means throw out the magazines and talk about your patients' health and well being.

***  When you sit down with patients to explain their findings, how are you educating them so that they understand the necessity of care?

Show them what's normal on X‑ray and don't only give them an explanation about your finding, but involve them by asking what they may see on the films that are different from normal. Reposition the communication so patients can understand what you understand. Show your patient the difference between his or her wants and needs and what's truly possible when the two of you work together towards getting healthy.

***  Give your patients the reasons why consistent care is necessary. Your patients need to know that it is an effort by both of you to focus on these reasons so that they will achieve the end result.

Patients come to you because they are dissatisfied about their health. You must help them to change, not sell them. Inspiration and responsibility cause the drive behind making those changes. Becoming the doctor of choice is really up to you. Patients will either feel confident or doubtful, depending on your sincerity and true intention about wanting them to choose YOU.

The sooner the shift is made within the individual D.C., the sooner we can start moving toward the true meaning of health and well being.

(Timothy J. Gay, D.C., chair of the WCA Council on Chiropractic Mentoring, has been in practice for more than 20 years. He has received numerous awards for his leadership abilities and willingness to contribute to the profession, including the "Chiropractor of the Year" award from both the United Chiropractors of Washington [1990] and the Washington State Chiropractic Association [1999]. For information on the WCA Council on Chiropractic Mentoring, call [toll free] 866/797‑8366, or 760/736‑9330.)