Patient Compliance For Your Practice
This blog by Dr. David Smaldone of Smaldone Chiropractic in New Paltz, New York, is about patient compliance. As Dr. Smaldone points out, patient compliance is critical to your practice, and it can be achieved by taking the necessary steps outlined.
Having 100% Patient Compliance is Possible in Your Chiropractic Practice!
Through the evaluation of hundreds of chiropractic practices there is one thing I see in almost ever failing practice. Patient compliance with the doctor’s recommendations is low to none. The patients in these office for example don’t do there exercises, ignore nutritional advice, don’t make there regularly scheduled appointments, etc . Doctors often are even in denial about there own practices even though it’s happening right under there noses!
Here are some sure fire tips to make sure that your practice is running properly and your patient compliance is as high as it can be:
1) Make sure no matter what you do sit down with each new chiropractic patient and explain thoroughly what chiropractic is, why it is important, and how it benefits them.
2) Sit down with each new chiropractic patient and go over your examination findings, what your recommendations are, and most importantly why you need to do each part of your recommendations to get the best results possible.
3) You as a chiropractic practitioner you must follow through with your recommendations once going over the treatment protocol your patient must follow. This seems simple but few chiropractor once they have a patient for a period of time follow through 100% with there recommendations. If you don’t patients feel almost betrayed on the promise made between patient and chiropractor.
4) If your patients are going to see you 3 times a week for the first couple weeks they are telling someone, “Oh, I have to go to the chiropractor”. This provides an opportunity for someone who is truly not involved with your patients treatment to put there two sense in about chiropractic. This chiropractic information given to your patient is often uninformed, incorrect, and/or misinformation. You as the chiropractor must educate your patient otherwise some else will! This is why a weekly, biweekly, or monthly news letter is crucial for you patients. Keep them up to date with the most recent happenings in chiropractic, chiropractic research, your office, your life, and also you can show them the patient of the month which may give them a goal to attain!
5) Lastly, during your patients treatment they will have questions, comments, and simply be curious about there treatment. Make sure to do re-evaluations on a scheduled basis so your patient can ask these questions in a private setting and they feel comfortable asking them. Also chiropractic re-evaluations provide a great time for you to develop a bond with your patients, get update with there condition, and tweak adjustments schedules if needed.
If you follow these simple and easy to execute steps you will see patient compliance in your office sky rocket to a place you have never seen. Sometimes it not about getting new patients it’s about keeping the ones you already have!
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