At this time people often go to a chiropractor as a first choice rather than a last resort. Therefore it becomes more incumbent upon us to do certain things that we might not have done before. They have not first been to the M.D. who has ruled out or tried to treat their diseases. What are some of those things?
The #1 thing: Help them understand what we DO and what we DO NOT do. Ascertain what their expectation is and be honest with them about what we offer them. #2 Ask them if they accept the terms of the care we offer. Have them sign off on the terms of care and practice objective. #3 Do not bash the medical objective or the MD. Sometimes people need medical care while at the same time, they need us. It is better to remain professional in our communication about #1 and #2 above, than it is to make them feel you will be angry at them if they decide to address things only medically. People have to gain an understanding that chiropractic is separate and distinct from medical care. I’m sure there are many more things…..these are the first things that came to mind for me, by reading this post.
The PM has to be made aware that chiropractic is DIFFERENT than medicine. I agree with Bob that we need not bash the medical profession (anymore than we would bash dentistry, optometry or any other practitioner that they may be seeing).
With chiropractic’s history I think it is sometimes hard for some DCs not to be on the defensive against medicine. If they (the “some DCs”) could just realize the potential of straight chiropractic we would all be better off – to include PMs, chiropractic and medicine. I’m sure MDs have better things to do than to be fighter with mixer chiropractic “physicians”.
“fighter” was supposed to read “fighting”…. It’s been one of those weeks.