FEATURE considered more ideal simply because the language card is a trump card. When patients understand the bene-fits of chiropractic they will refer others for care. In pioneer practices, where the average person on the street knows nothing about chiropractic, success is built on referrals. A satisfied patient may or may not refer but an informed and enthusiastic patient will. The doctor will have to be a good communicator. There are countries where it is ac-cepted that patients are seen by for-eign-speaking doctors through a trans-lator. Saudi Arabia is a good example. Some patients in other countries like the Philippines, Singapore and some Latin American countries will also see a spe-cialist doctor when a translator is avail-able. The secret is to train the staff very well in communicating the chiropractic story under these circumstances. Travel. Taking a trip to the country where you’re contemplating setting up your practice is highly recommended. Call it a reconnaissance expedition. Television travel shows are fascinating but certainly cannot substitute for the personal experience of spending time in a new place and meeting the local people face to face. Even a brief visit can reveal much about a country and its people, and about you and what you can tolerate under what circumstances. What is of particular concern is whether a true feeling of empathy and genuine concern exist inside the pro-spective doctor’s spirit for the local population. It is either present or not, and will weigh into the ultimate fate of the practice venture. Understand the culture. This is more about you than it is about the people you wish to serve and live around – at least in the early years of practice. Everyone has a certain ability to confront adversity and tolerate a given level of change. Living in another country and getting used to the culture and the different standard of life can wear out a person’s ability to adapt to daily challenges and ongoing irritations that accompany a drastically altered lifestyle. Unless one’s tolerance for change can keep up with the degree of unfamiliarity that leads to frequent frustrations, the bottom can suddenly fall beneath your feet and the next www.canadianchiropractor.ca foREIgN PRACTICE XYZs of foreign practice I Everything chiropractors need to know to set up clinic abroad By miChel tetrAult apply here:let’s call it the S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z of starting a foreign practice. Speaking the local language. This is often the first concern of Eng-lish-speaking doctors when contem-plating where to set up a foreign prac-tice. Many DCs have to limit their choices to English-speaking countries when they do not see themselves being able to learn another language. How-ever, speaking a second language open up specific countries that would be t is estimated that five to 10 per cent of the population have the necessary skills and maturity needed to succeed in living and practising in a for-eign country. If you have the “right stuff ” your best chiropractic practice may very well be abroad. Advising chiropractors about the many issues that come to play when looking to start up a foreign practice reveals a mnemonic that seems to Dr. miChel tetrAult, originally from Manitoba, now owns a chiropractic practice and wellness centre in the Philippines. He is executive director of the Chiropractic Diplomatic Corps, a non-government organization promoting increased availability and equal access of chiropractic to the world’s populations. 28 Canadian Chiropractor April 2014 Photo: Fotolia
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor April 2014: Page 28
