One of the chiropractic magazines I receive is The Chiropractic Journal, a publication of the World Chiropractic Alliance. Usually I flip through professional magazines and throw them in the trash within about five minutes time because they are always the same ol' same ol'. But an article on page 25 of this month's issue caught my eye in a big way. Dr. Dennis Nikitow points out several myths that chiropractors have about building and running their practice. Oddly enough, I was ALWAYS wary about doctors who believed these myths right from the day I graduated from chiropractic school almost nine years ago. In fact, I never believed such myths, and I knew that doctors who did believe them were barking up the wrong tree. They never got MY resume, except for one that I was desperate enough to work for back in 2001, a job that lasted only four months. Anyway, here is a synopsis of the article and my commentary:
Now I went to a school that always taught that the more people you serve the better things are. That is true IF you can keep it affordable for people AND give them quality care. So the first myth is that "high volume means higher income." Or, you can always have a Personal Injury practice were you make about $10,000 a year per patient. Good luck trying to build such a practice in the presence of greedy insurance firms! Anyway, the doctor I worked for for only four months was a high-volume monger. One day she took care of a patient who was very familiar with my style of spinal adjusting. That patient later complained to me that the doctor, who was my boss, was terrible because she was only interested in doing a push here and a push there and then was off to see the next patient. I took my time, always, with each and every patient. I practiced that way when I was a student intern, and I still practice that way today.
This leads to the second myth that chiropractors believe -- that if they hire an associate doctor on commission, that doctor will build the practice for them. I've never seen this work, and a doctor who hires a doctor to be his lackey is severely lacking in integrity. Unfortunately, more than 90% of the "help wanted" ads I see on chiropractic job boards are just that -- doctors looking for other doctors to do the work for them. Hmmm. I wonder what their people skills are like. OR, maybe they are all audies like me?
Another myth that is mentioned in the article is that using physiotherapy will boost the income of the doctor. While physiotherapy is more geared to a Personal Injury type practice and not a wellness-based practice, insurance companies do tend to cut off the amount of care a person receives sooner when many therapies are performed. In reality, electrical and ultrasonic physiotherapy has never been, and never will be, my thing. Many of the patients I care for who have had physiotherapy done to them by other doctors tell me that they feel much better when I just give them what they need -- a chiropractic ADJUSTMENT. That is what chiropractic is all about, anyway. Besides, where is all the money going that is made from physiotherapy? Why it's going to pay the physical therapist, the higher bills, the equipment upkeep and all that needless overhead. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.
Still another myth is that different types of instrumentation could be used to monitor a patient's progress instead of x-rays. First of all, I only x-ray a patient if they absolutely need to be x-rayed, for example if they were just in an accident or if I sense something is unusual in their exam findings. People may say, "Well I feel no different," and you may argue that they are better because some pretty, colorful graph shows a change. Does the patient really feel better? Does the patient really FUNCTION better? Do they notice the changes, even slightly? These are the results I am interested in.
In the end, I am in practice for myself because I tend to speak my mind about these things and not buy into the myths. I also will not work for another doctor who exemplifies the myths. So until I find enough people who know that I am different, I guess I'll keep struggling in my difference.
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