BACK TALK SYSTEMS, INC. 14998 W. 6th Avenue, Suite E-500 Golden, CO USA 80401 USA and Canada 1-800-937-3113 United Kingdom 44(0) 1202-534-986 Australia 1-800-800-963 www. backtalksystems.com CA Tip #29 PERPETUATING THE FEELING THERE IS A GREAT DANGER OF DROP OUT IN THE FIRST FEW VISITS. We manage to create excitement and enthusiasm in our new patient but now comes the hard part. Perpetuating the feeling. I think it¼s relatively easy to generate this positive feeling, however, throughout the next several visits we have to keep this feeling going. We have given this patient hope, but there is still some degree of uncertainty. The patient is wondering if we can „walk our talk¾? This is the responsibility of every staff member. I have found that once a new patient is established, there is some degree of „let down¾. It seems like we use up all of our energy in the first two visits and lose it after that. This is very dangerous. Sometime during the first few visits, the patient makes the decision either to continue care or drop out. Those first five visits are critical. It is vitally important to keep track of this new patient throughout these visits and to be aware of any red flags that may tell you that a patient is discouraged and about to drop out. The danger is with patients who improve dramatically right away and with patients who do not improve immediately. Either way, the danger of dropping out is always looming. It is vitally important to remember that some patients improve immediately, but some do not. It takes time. Some patients actually get worse before improvement begins and still others get pain elsewhere in the spine. All of this is quite normal during the spinal conditioning (corrective) process and the patient needs to know that. We, as staff members, must not give our patient false expectations. Our job is to give encouragement, leave the rest for the doctor. A patient needs to continually be encouraged and educated about chiropractic care. The patient needs to be reassured of his improvement, even though he is still in pain. It takes time, we know that, but the patient must understand it too! Communication is extremely important. It is always amazing how many patients misunderstand or misinterpret our instructions! Fortunately, most patients respond great to chiropractic care. However, they do need to be managed very closely during the first twelve visits or so. The tendency to return to old habits is very strong. As your patient improves, make sure you tell him to thank the person who referred him and be sure to ask him for referrals too. This is the responsibility of the entire office staff. The preceding information has been excerpted from The Chiropractic Team Training and Practice Management Manual written by Susan Hoy and available at Back Talk Systems. This manual contains over 200 pages of team training tips and practice management procedures and forms. Why not join the hundreds of chiropractors who have already made the commitment to organize and systemize their office. For more information contact Back Talk Systems at 800-937-3113 or log onto their website at www.backtalksystems.com Susan Hoy has managed a busy chiropractic office since 1989. Currently, Susan travels throughout the U.S. helping teams become more organized, systemized and energized.