January 2007

Motivating patients to complete treatment

by Dr. Peter Fernandez

Your relationship with your patients is based on sound communication and the sharing of information. This is true for new patients as well as those you've treated for years. Patients have a need to know what to expect in their treatment program. They also need to know why they're asked to return for additional office visits and treatments. As the treating doctor, you need, of course, to have patients follow your treatment program if they are to improve.

Both you and your patients need to know and understand the hidden complications that might be associated with their condition. Once pain subsides, how do you motivate patients to continue their full treatment program? Are they still engaging in the same behaviors that caused their injury? Are they making the "connection" between their injury and the action that produced it?

Are you currently talking to your patients about their treatment program? Do you tell them where they are in their healing process? Are you asking them to identify the improvements they've noticed since visiting your office? If you aren't you should be.

Here are four questions you should begin asking with each patient visit. These questions can help improve communication between you and your patients. Better communication results in a better doctor‑patient relationship, improved patient health, and more frequent patient referrals.

1) When your next patient arrives.... try this:

Get in the habit of asking your patients "complication questions," questions that help bring out any hidden complications that might be associated with a patient's condition. One example might be, "How is your back pain affecting your work?" By asking questions of this type, you bring to the surface serious complications or side effects the patient may not have recognized or associated with his or her condition. Some complications might be major and some might appear to be minor. But a complication recognized by the patient reinforces the importance of treatment and why he or she needs to continue the full treatment program.

2) When your next patient arrives... try this:

Every human being, either consciously or subconsciously, moves toward pleasure and away from pain. Fear and discomfort of pain is the reason most patients seek out your services. In a manner of speaking, pain is a great motivator. In reality, it's their pain that won't allow patients to stop searching until they find a solution to stop it. Once a patient's pain subsides (and often before) he or she begins looking for ways to increase pleasure. Does your practice offer treatment programs that simply provide pain relief or do they offer relief from pain and then allow patients to move toward pleasure? When it comes to increasing pleasure, think in terms of additional care in the form of a professional massage, heated water therapy tables, etc., both of which decrease pain and increase the patient's pleasure.

3) When your next patient arrives.... try this:

Get in the practice of asking "history questions." These are questions that touch on the circumstances surrounding the patient's current physical condition, injury, or disability. Is the patient still engaging in the same behaviors that caused his or her injury? Is he or she making the connection between the injury and the action that produced it? Injuries reoccur when patients fail to see the cause and affect. Educating your patients can be just as important as adjusting them.

4) When your next patient arrives.... try this:

Talk to your patients about their program of care, explaining where they are in their healing process. Then, ask them to identify the improvements they've noticed since last visiting your practice. Having patients tell you how they feel and how they've improved under your care helps them visualize the benefits your chiropractic care provides. This procedure increases patient satisfaction. The more patients are satisfied, the more they'll follow your recommendations ‑‑ and the more they'll refer.

True healing begins when patients start to understand their health within the framework of your care program. These questions can help to open the lines of communication between you and your patients. Better communication results in a better doctor‑patient relationship, improved patient health, and more frequent patient referrals. Make these questions part of regular patient visits and you'll also begin to notice immediate improvements in patient loyalty.

(Dr. Peter G. Fernandez, a Logan College graduate, is past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association, and past chairman of the Chiropractic Knights of the Roundtable, an organization of the world's most successful chiropractors. His practice with five staff chiropractors and 12 satellite offices was one of the largest all‑referral, high‑income chiropractic clinics on the US. A practice consultant for the last 25 years, he has consulted with approximately 5,000 DCs and in the opening of more than 3,000 new practices. Visit Dr. Fernandez online at www.DrFernnadez .com and be sure to sign up for his FREE newsletter. He can be reached by calling Fernandez Consulting, 800‑882‑4476 or via e‑mail: DrPete@DrFernandez.com.)