It’s been a combination of pride and cringing embarrassment. What could produce such an emotional mixture? Posting each of the chapters from A Patient’s Point of View and My Report of Findings to this website over the last couple of days. (The drop-down menu under “Books” above.)
Originally published in 1992 and 1993 it was difficult to avoid the temptation to do a little editing here, deleting a few paragraphs there, and generally freshening things up. After all, many of my ideas have matured since then. But I decided to post them as is.
I was struck by a couple of observations:
1. Most of the ideas a still valid. The truth is the truth. Success skills are success skills. Naturally, some of the references are dated, but most of the principles remain true today.
2. Back then I was still profoundly influenced by Renaissance and the importance of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex. (This is one thing I have since recanted in a more recent article.)
3. I got a whiff of dogmatism from time to time. Back then, I was still not sure what being a “chiropractic patient advocate” meant. Or how to best present my case for maximum impact. I hope you can look past my shortcomings.
4. A lot of territory is covered! Naturally, patient perceptions of the many facets of chiropractic care are explored. But so too are staffing issues, doctor headspace and the early predictions of the implosion of third-party reimbursement.
5. These books were published before the Internet became as ubiquitous as it is today. Thus, my take on yellow page advertising is no longer applicable and the article on patient newsletters would need some amending!
Why did I choose to post them so they can be read for free when we still sell the actual books? A couple of reasons. First, I think this and the other books I’ll be posting later can help a lot of doctors who weren’t exposed to this information in chiropractic college. Second, many of these chapters help substantiate many of the patient education resources we’ve created and the patient communication strategies we recommend. Posting them will allow me to link to them from other pages on this site.
You’ll notice I’ve tempted the bots that harvest email addresses for spammers by posting my email address at the beginning of each chapter. I hope you’ll take advantage of it and email me some feedback.
Merry Christmas!