February 2009

The academic futility of patient education

by Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz

How many times have you attempted to educate practice members who obediently nod their heads in feigned agreement? "Do you see this subluxation?" "Oh yes, doctor I do" they say with a straight face. "Do you see this curve is 23 degrees not 26 degrees?" "Oh yes, doctor I see it." While this may come as a shock to some of you, people will say and do just about anything to get their needs met. In this case, practice members will say anything to get you to give them relief.

Nobody knows or cares what you're talking about. That's the academic futility of patient education. Patients shut down when you start talking technically. They talk a good game and nod approvingly... but, they're not with you. They'll leave you when their symptoms lessen.

Is there a solution to the paradox of patient education?

Many great DCs have given up educating practice members because of academic futility. How many times can you do something without results? Yet, without patient education, practice members stay ignorant about chiropractic and measure their health according to their symptoms. They put chiropractic inside the allopathic model and what's the result? Frustrated DCs, CAs and practice members. No one understands where the other's coming from.

So, let's go through the mechanics of effective patient education and point out the fatal flaws that lead to frustration and broken down communication.

Whenever you mention anything scientific or foreign to your practice members, many of them will fall into "academic futility." This is the same state of mind as when your chemistry teacher went on and on about atomic numbers, stereoisomers, and osmolarity. You shut down and pretended to understand by nodding your head and acting intelligent. You'll experience this whenever you attempt to show your practice members x-rays. They're having a conversation with you without ever having looked close up at an x-ray.

There's a missing ingredient to this equation that we won't discuss just yet. For the moment, let's talk about technique. You say to patients, "I'm the only DC who has certification from the guru of gurus, the master of disaster, the grand poo bah." They sit and enjoy your excitement and nod their heads in feigned understanding. They've shut down and, again, there's only one- sided communication going on. You're like the chemistry or calculus teacher going on and on. The further you continue, the more lost the practice member becomes. Sound familiar?

The missing ingredient that will prevent academic futility every time is relevancy. You must make your explanations relevant to them.

Here's a great example, something many of you have already been through. Say you're having difficulty conceiving a baby. Months go by and no baby. Now, it's been years and your wife's waiting for you when you get home and says "we need to talk." She says "we need to go to an infertility specialist." You protest but she looks at you with that look, and next thing you know you're in an infertility specialist's office being ushered into a room full of baby pictures and happy mothers' faces.

The doctor starts going on and on about motility, alkalinity, ph, count, and you start to drift off into academic futility. You nod your head just like your patients do to you. But this doctor has had training in creating magical relationships, and before you disappear into the academic futility fog, he or she makes it very relevant to you… this is the reason your wife isn't pregnant. The academic futility is replaced by a laser-sharp focus on every word the doctor says. There's actually one person talking and two people listening. What a breakthrough!

When you have this kind of communication going on in your practice instead of academic futility, do you think there are going to be compliance or financial issues? Great communication and education pave the way to long-term, high quality relationships for the doctor and the practice member. It's a win-win situation.

When you're examining your practice members, make it relevant. Nobody cares if a shoulder is high or low. But when you make it relevant, then they care. "You see this high shoulder on the right, Mary? Do you notice when you wear something off the shoulder that it droops on the left?" You'll be amazed at what happens. Now the high right shoulder has relevance in her life. She now connects a high right shoulder with a new concept of health. Rather than falling into the fog of academic futility she now tunes into what you're communicating.

If you choose to educate your patients make it relevant.

(The New Renaissance is a movement of passionate chiropractors dedicated to changing the world. The leader in patient education since 1977, the Mentor IV Coaching Program is a step-by-step navigational guide that embodies the very essence of The New Renaissance vision of healthier people creating a healthier world. Without patient education, your patients won't "get it." To learn more about The New Renaissance, contact world headquarters at 800-525-3879.)