I think everyone knows that we have a Decompression machine at the office; Decompression is the newest technology to treat ruptured/bulging disks of both the lumbar and cervical spine. It is a non-surgical technique to heal these problems, it is incredibly effective (around 88%-91% the exact number is not coming to head right now) and non-invasive.
We have spent the past several weeks putting together information packages and delivering them to all the medical offices in our area. Our goal has been to educate the medical community how to take care of these patients without meds or surgery. We sent out over 128 packages, some of which were hand delivered. We followed up with phone calls and an invitation to our office to come and check out what exactly decompression is and check out the Spine-Med table.
We asked the doctors to RSVP and we sent out faxes reminding them the day before they event. We had only 2 doctors RSVP and less than 10 doctors show up. All that showed were chiropractors like ourselves, a physio and a massage therapist. We had several of our patients that have gone through the treatment protocol in attendance so that they could share their experience and answer any questions that might come up re pt care in our office.
One part of me is so positive about what we did, I think any energy we put out to educate our community is great. Another part of me is disappointed with our local medical community. If I had the chance go into every doctor office in my area and meet the doctor and learn what he/she is about and how they practice and what their medical philosophy is, I would jump on it. It would make me a better doctor. I would be able to refer my patients to the right practitioner for their individual needs when I needed to do so. We would all provide our patients with a higher level of patient care if we knew one and other and opened the doors to discuss our cases working together to get our patients well and keep them well.
When I look back at the last paragraph I think, utopia. It will never happen. Then I think about the way our office works. There are a few MD's in town that refer us patients on a regular basis. When this occurs, we treat the pt. for a bit and then we send the referring MD a letter. We talk about how the pt. first presented to our office, our exam findings, our treatment protocol and how the pt. is doing after x number of visits. This is not utopia, this is standard opperating procedure in our office.
Is really so hard to open the door and create relationships in the medical community? We can't be the only doctors in town looking for the best way to treat our patients...so why didn't more doctors show up? Really the term 'medical community' is a misnomer if we don't take the time learn about one and other and use each others strengths to benefit our patients
3 comments:
You are talking about changing the status quo. People are afraid of change. Threatened by change. I think your best shot is through education of your patients. They will ask for less invasive protocols. The medical community will follow. At least that's what I'm seeing here. Don't try to educate the doctors. You wouldn't want to disturb their little kingdoms. Educate everyone else.
I think Mom's right. People don't like change. I've it seen it at work with older technicians and especially with air traffic controllers. People get used to doing things a certain way and they don't want to change that.
I think your approach is great.
I think you did a great thing. Being open, having nothing to hide, shows you're confident in what you have to offer. In my eyes, it shows that you really do care about a pt and their well-being. Maybe when the medical practitioners start to use your services for their own personal health and see the benefits will they start to "believe" in chiropractic. Even if they use the "back door" to sneak in an adjustment. Ranj just started working a few hours in a building with mds, phsio, etc I wonder if the mds will want to be adjusted to see for themselves what it's about. -Susan
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