September 2007

Shifting patients to lifetime care

by Dr. Eric Plasker

One of the most common questions that chiropractors ask me in my teleclasses is, "How do you shift people away from symptomatic care to subluxation correction and the chiropractic lifestyle?"

To answer this effectively, you must first look at the chiropractic intent that you have with each patient that comes into your office:

***  Are you committed to providing each patient that comes in to see you with lifetime care?

***  Do you understand the value of lifetime chiropractic care?

***  Are you willing to communicate the importance of living the chiropractic lifestyle?

Or... do you just want to say what you think the patient wants to hear so that you won't be rejected?

The reality is that people want to hear the truth. And, they want to hear it from a chiropractor with conviction who is willing to teach people about true health and wellness! This should be your chiropractic intent with each patient you come in contact with, and with every member of your community.

Once you clarify your intent in your own mind, set up your policies and procedures to support your intent, and then master the communication necessary to reach the people. When you do this, shifting patients from symptom care to subluxation correction and the chiropractic lifestyle becomes easy. You will have an opportunity to create the shift ‑‑ and make it the nature of your relationship from this point on ‑‑ immediately after patients fill out their case history, and are escorted to the consultation room.

When you enter the consultation room, introduce yourself and begin asking the patient why he or she has chosen to come to your office. Ask questions about his or her history and relate everything back to injuries to the spine that may have happened at birth, or while growing up. After you have listened to the patient's stories, use the following script to complete the shift over to subluxation care and make the rest of your procedures ‑‑ such as your report of findings and daily visits ‑‑ go more smoothly.

Say to the patient: "Let me tell you what we do and how we go about it. I'm going to check you for a condition that happens in the spine called a vertebral subluxation." Go on to explain what a subluxation is in simple terms so the patient can understand it. Always let patients know that if they have that in their spine, you will be able to help a lot, and if not, you'll tell them that, too. Then, ask if they would like to get started.

Regardless of the condition or situation that brought a person to you in the first place, this script will make the transition from symptom care to the chiropractic lifestyle very smooth and easy. The natural completion of this dialogue is, "First, we'll get this out of your spine, and then will keep it out over the course of your lifetime."

Getting patients to want their families to be checked by you is just a natural follow up to this conversation. Why? Because, any caring parent would want their child to have their subluxations removed immediately, wouldn't they? Of course they would. There is that strong chiropractic intent again!

Ground yourself in a strong chiropractic lifestyle intent. Train yourself to communicate the big idea. Shift patients to the importance of correcting subluxations and keeping their bodies subluxation‑free the rest of their lives. This approach will simplify your practice and make educating patients a breeze from day one.

(Dr. Eric Plasker, author of "The 100 Year Lifestyle" -- www.100yearlifestyle.com -- is the founder of The Family Practice coaching and training organization, dedicated to helping DCs unite to lead family health care. An internationally known speaker and chiropractic educator, he is best known for rallying the chiropractic profession around the Lifetime Care for Everyone and Family Practice visions. For seminar, coaching, training, or product information, call The Family Practice toll‑free at 866‑LEAD‑DCS (532‑3327), ext. 118 or visit the Family Practice website at www.thefamilypractice.net.)