One of the great failures of chiropractic, both in individual practices and as a profession, is our lack of a continuing education program for people. We need a continuing education program for our practice members, for one important reason: the medical profession is constantly brainwashing the public to their outside-in viewpoint relative to health and life. Between the drug commercials on television, the medical shows and propaganda throughout all the media, the public, including our practice members are constantly bombarded with outside-in thinking. We cannot possibly hope to compete with that. Our only answer is to have people so well informed with a strong ADIO viewpoint that they will not be swayed by the outside-in propaganda machine. The only way to do that is to have a strong continuing education program, one that takes an individual with no knowledge about chiropractic to having a clear and strong understanding.
I see two mechanisms in which to do that. The first is a series of talks on aspects of chiropractic, what I call the “Active Method” of continuing education. This method necessitates that the chiropractor develop talks on particular subjects that will educate the practice members about chiropractic. And not just 2 or 3 talks but many talks. A few talks may be informative and helpful but they are not going to negate years of constant outside-in brainwashing. A further problem is the fact that new people are starting all the time, which necessitates giving numerous classes at various levels on an ongoing basis. Lastly, most chiropractors do not have the time to schedule these types of classes, let alone prepare them and actually teach them. What is more, most chiropractors do not consider themselves good speakers and feel rather uncomfortable maybe even dread doing talks at all. With all those negatives, I still believe doing a lecture series is a good idea. It is a start in the education process. It also happens to be a good practice builder. I would suggest that even if you are getting into deeper chiropractic philosophical ideas that you give a short, basic explanation of chiropractic each time and encourage people to bring in friends and family members.
The second mechanism for continuing education is more expensive but a lot less work. I call it the “Passive Method” of continuing education. This method simply makes information available to practice members that will enable them to increase their understanding of chiropractic. The obvious problem with this method is that it puts the responsibility of learning on the practice member. (Of course, there is a legitimate argument that it is the practice member’s responsibility anyhow.) You can give them literature or audio/video materials but you have no control over whether they ever actually read, listen to or watch the material. Having a busy practice, we have chosen this method of continuing education. We make copies of Enhance Your Life Experience, a great educational paperback for lay people, available to practice members at cost. We also have a lending library of 20 different audio tapes that is an excellent overview of chiropractic. We put the tapes out for people to take, listen to and then return to the rack which is conveniently located in the front room of our office. The tapes are inexpensive enough that if they are not returned it is no great loss. Some of our practice members are interested enough and have enough understanding that they can actually read and benefit from Chiropractic Philosophy which is used as a freshman philosophy textbook at several chiropractic colleges. After all, freshman are really just lay people on day one of their chiropractic education. A number of chiropractors actually purchase quantities of Chiropractic Philosophy for use by their practice members (FACE gives substantial discounts for quantity purchases). We also have both the Chiropractic Conversation Cards and each of our six pamphlets available in each individual adjusting room. Most chiropractic pamphlets are worthless as far as getting people to truly understand chiropractic because they focus on disease and symptoms instead of chiropractic. FACE pamphlets are uniquely written and designed to not only bring in new people but to educate those that are already practice members. We also have our Video Posters (now on CD) running in the front room. Everybody is attracted to the T.V. and can be quickly and easily educated in small bits in this manner. Also available in the front room are our monthly newsletters and weekly articles.
The success of the passive method is dependent upon there being enough information, articles and tools to educate those people who have an interest in learning more about chiropractic. That may be a small minority of the people who come into the office. Still, as that minority grows, it will eventually be the solid core of your practice, the people who you enjoy checking on a regular basis and who refer in their friends, family members and acquaintances.