Chiropractic Health Assistant Education Recalls – from a philosophical perspective Brandi MacDonald manages a multi-doctor, high-volume clinic in Edmonton. She is the owner of True Concepts,which consults with chiropractors all over North America regarding staffing. She also is an international speaker for chiroprac- tic assistants. She can be reached at [email protected]. plans and/or from disappearing altogether. Most of us have thousands of inactive files in our practices – patients who have decided to quit care, or try something else. Therefore, recall systems are crucial and it is equally important that chiropractic health assistants (CHAs) understand and execute them well. But, prior to a patient actually leaving, in- ternal systems must exist – between the DC and CHA, that is – that will reduce the need for recalls in the first place. In order to understand recalls from a philosophical perspective, we first must start A with the beginning in mind. Before a patient leaves our practice, we must look at why they started and what their expectations were. In most practices, a thorough initial visit has been done by the DC, a plan of action has been created based on this initial visit and then it has been presented to the patient. In some practices, this is done all together in the first visit, but in many practices, presenting the plan of action to the patient is a separate visit called the “results” or “report of findings” visit. How well patients under- stand their health needs and their treatment plans is directly correlated to how well they will follow through. The CHA also must understand the plan. If a patient is coming for pain relief from a certain condition, the treatment plan ends when the patient is feeling better – there- fore, what is the CHA recalling? The patient is in charge of calling the clinic when they 14 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | JUNE 2010 www.canadianchiropractor.ca pproximately once a week, I receive a phone call or email about recalls. I also am questioned on this when I speak at seminars. Generally, the question is how to perform recalls better or more efficiently to keep patients on their treatment Brandi MacDonald feature
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor June 2010: Page 14
