Patient Education 101 Continued from Page 18 During the consultation and examina-tion, you need to be drilling down to the most compelling motivators for why that person made the choice to explore chiro-practic care and determining how the ser-vice you offer is the desirable one, in light of those. It has been our experience that the most common motivators are all emotional (See sidebar on this page.) You must penetrate to the “emotional core” in order to best treat the patient, of course, but also to fully ascertain why they are in your office. By achieving this, and then keeping it in mind during your examination, the report of findings and treatment plan will become a direct re-flection of that individual’s core needs. This will not only have obvious thera-peutic benefits for the patient, but will also result in the formation of an advo-cate who will tell others not only how you treated their pain, but that you were able to impact other needs as well. This will make others, in turn, desire your services. The key to effective patient education is first a matter of understanding a person’s needs, and only then working on addressing them. You can never fill a hole you can’t see. Whether on a conscious or subconscious level, each of the above queries must be ad-dressed to the patient’s satisfaction to start movement towards long-term compliance and rapport. With the exception of “are you qualified,” responses to the other four ar-eas in question can be amended over time depending upon individual circumstances, but must still be dealt with to the patient’s satisfaction as part of the initial exchanges. As well as being necessary for opti-mal monitoring, re-exams offer the best opportunity to educate the patient and reinforce the validity of their decision to seek your care. Present all changes and improvements to the patient, and use these to either substantiate your initial care program or to demonstrate the need to restructure your approach to better suit their emergent needs. Finally, it is a good idea to provide patients with the opportunity to attend a well-structured healthcare class as early into their program of care as possible and encourage them to bring friends and fam-ily. This is an ideal venue for providing patients with the tools to better under-stand how the body works, dispel myths and have their questions answered in a safe and nurturing environment. EDUCATE YOUR STAFF At first blush, all of this appears to be en-tirely the doctor’s job. Most certainly, he/she must have direct one-on-one conversation with the patient to address any concern that may pop up in each of the above areas. But, whenever possible, this is a team effort. When available, it is the job of the chiro-practic assistant (CA) to fill in the gaps and support the patient through the intervention process. We all know that healing is often not a straight line, and there can be periods of little apparent change or even setbacks before the ultimate goals are reached. The job of the CA is to help the patients through the rocky periods by reinforcing clinical re-alities through relating their own personal experiences working with other patients. HOW CAs CAN HELP, AND THE 11-WEEK PROGRAM It has been our experience that many chiro-practors do as ineffective a job of educating COMMON EMOTIONAL MOTIVATORS FOR SEEKING CHIROPRACTIC • • • “It hurts, and nothing else that I have done so far has helped.” The emotions here are pain, frustration and possibly depression, which of itself can become a secondary problem. “I don’t understand what is happening to me – and that scares me!” The emotion here is fear, which over time leads to frustration and anger. “I can’t do the things I used to do without making it worse,” Here we see perceived loss of self-efficacy, which can become the primary disability and can lead to a sense of loss or failure. This, in turn, can become the energy sink, especially among chronic patients. “I can’t go to work,” The deeper meaning, here, is I can’t pay my bills or support my family – the emotions here are fear and frustration. “I can’t take care of myself physically.” The emotion here is again fear with help-lessness and associated resignation that “I will not get better without help.” “I can’t participate in a treasured leisure activity.” Here, the emotions are loss, anger and frustration. “I can’t move effectively due to pain and/or restriction.” The emotion here is fear of isolation and abandonment. For the elderly, there is fear of progressive dis-ability leading to ultimate death. “I feel weak and vulnerable.” This loss of self-esteem is more common in males and relates to tying self-image to physical strength and prowess. “I don’t have a lot of money.” This is a fear that costs of treatment could exceed financial ability to pay. This is a major motivator for many people in our cur-rent economic climate and should be dealt with early in the exchange. “I will no longer be able to serve as caregiver to those who depend upon me.” The emotion here is fear and anxiety. www.canadianchiropractor.ca WHAT DO PATIENTS NEED TO KNOW? “To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching” – Ralph Waldo Emerson This is where the rubber really hits the road. We have explored what education is, the benefits of patient education and who benefits from patient education, so the big question remains what do pa-tients need to know? There are many areas of patient educa-tion that need to be covered, but first things first. Among those surveyed on educational needs, there was agreement that from a pa-tient’s perspective the following five ques-tions needed to be addressed first in order to create the baseline for any true trusting compliance. (That consensus also extended to the belief that they must be effectively sat-isfied with the service within the first two patient visits.) • Are you qualified to assess and treat my concerns? • Do you know what my problem is? • Can you effectively treat my complaints? • How long will it take to fix? • How much will it cost? 22 • CaNaDIaN CHIROPRaCTOR | DECEMBER 2010 • • • • • • •
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor December 2010: Page 22
