What Patients Are Paying For

I frequently have to fill in info about myself and my style of practice as I do various paperwork for our clinic.  One's company has to explain his or her product, and in the healthcare industry the product often ends up being the doctor.  This isn't egotistical, it's just the truth.  In healthcare, a patient isn't only paying for your ability to write a scrip, or educate on a certain exercise, or interpret a certain tests results; the patient is paying for you, the doctor.  They're paying for your sense of humour, the way you listen to them, the way you crack a horrible joke to break the ice that usually comes with visiting a clinic, even the way you dress and the way you smell, they pay for your humanity.

The truth is, this just isn't in my field, I think it is across the board.  Watch this video, it is inspiring and saddening at the same time.  Then ask yourself the question: How are you bringing your humanity — your uniqueness that no one else can mimic — to the world?  How are you putting your personal stamp on your existence?  Fight those things that de-humanize what you bring to the world.  Technology is great (I'm using it right now), but it's not a substitute for you.

About Josh

Josh holds a Doctor of Chiropractic from Parker College of Chiropractic, is currently enrolled in The Carrick Institute studying Functional Neurology, and runs a full-time practice in Farmington, NM.  His interests are in neurology of movement, pain, and what a human being needs to express health.  He also likes to read and write, hence this blog.