Subject: Re: Healing Environments FYI, here is a copy of my article, published last year in Chiropractic Showcase Magazine. Educate while you decorate By Philip J. Mancuso, D.C., President, GS Productions ---------------------- "What you do speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you say." Many of us have little or no idea of how to outfit our offices to look like a real Chiropractor's office! Preconceived notions of what a doctor's office should look like often supersede good sense. Think of it: Chiropractic is so different from medicine, yet many of us model our offices after the MD's offices we may have been in over the years. "What I remember most about opening my office was the agonizing process I went through to make it look professional. The Building was up, all the permits were in place, the equipment was all moved in, diplomas were on the walls. It must have paid off -- friends who came into my reception room for the first time said it looked like a 'real doctor's' office! Yet, something just wasn't quite right. I know, I'll sprinkle a little rubbing alcohol around to make it smell like a doctor's office. And I'll get one of those cute little thermometer holders to put in the exam room." I took a long look at my reception room -- I even sat down in it and tried to imagine being a new patient and seeing it for the very first time. What distanced it from a medical office? Pictures? Chairs? At least we didn't have one of those little windows that the receptionist sits behind. But, what looked different? The answer -- nothing! If my practice flopped, the orthopedist or the GP down the street could easily move in and occupy the same space with little effort. What does your office say to people? It should be professional, neat, clean, orderly and up to date, it's true, but you need to go far beyond those things if you really want the office to communicate in a positive way. Do you have the same old pictures and magazines that the MD down the street has? Here's a checklist of office 'furnishings' not on the usual decorating lists: 1. Uplifting, thought-provoking magazines and periodicals --avoid the gossip and tabloid magazines. Your patients can get them in any doctor's office. Also, the ladies magazines with all the recipes and coupons are loaded with ads for over- the-counter pain remedies and articles on how to treat back pain (and you can bet they're not Chiropractic articles!) Try to avoid magazines with a religious or political agenda. Magazines on natural health and wellness, Julian Whitaker's Health and Healing newsletter is a great addition. Try stuff like Arizona Highways, Hawaii, New Jersey Monthly, Discover and Travel Holiday, to name a few. Dare to be different! Prevention Magazine has gotten really medical lately, and I suggest you look it over before you decide on whether it belongs in your reception room. A good general rule is to let your reading selection reflect your personality and practice philosophy . Change and update magazines regularly. 2. Wall Hangings -- Your reception room should have paintings or prints that match your decor. They should have a 'soft' feel and be relaxing to look at. Jarring or disturbing prints can turn a mildly annoyed patient into Atilla the Hun in no time flat. A nice idea is to put a short resume and picture of the doctor(s) in a prominent place in the reception room. This can help set the new patient's mind at ease, as well as becoming a source of pride for your established patients. Avoid the use of chiropractic charts except in your treatment and report rooms. In those places you don't want to try to fill every inch of wall space. That's what wall paper is for! Educational wall charts are available from any number of sources. They should (again) reflect your practice philosophy. Be consistent -- find a group of charts that tell the chiropractic story simply and easily and repeat them in each room. This will help reinforce your message, and if you go over the charts during the report of findings, the patient will have a better understanding of the principles they embody as they view them in each room. 3. Patient Education Pamphlets -- Once again, the embodiment of your practice philosophy. If you are symptom oriented, by all means, use some of the many fine symptom pamphlets. They are found in abundance in all the journals and catalogs. There are also many fine pamphlets for the 'straight' DC who only wants to spread the word about the subluxation. A few years ago, I developed a third kind of patient education pamphlet -- the issue-based pamphlet. These are based on the numerous situations that come up on a daily basis in a Chiropractic practice. They deal with topics like: I Came In O.K. But Was Sore After My Adjustment, I Don't Have The Time To Come In For All Those Adjustments, My Insurance Doesn't Cover Chiropractic And I Don't Want To Spend The Money, Thanks For The TuneUp, I'll Be Back When There's Smoke Pouring Out From Under The Hood! (For a full run down on these pamphlets, see "Back to the Future-Confessions of a Born Again Chiropractic Philosopher" in the December, 1993 issue of Chiropractic Showcase Magazine..) Put pamphlet racks all over the place - in the reception room, in the bathroom, in the treatment rooms! Give each patient a different pamphlet on each and every visit, along with the appropriate dialog. The results will be astonishing! The two things needed for a practice to thrive, in-house referrals and patient compliance, will surely increase. 4. Attitude and Philosophy -- Lastly, the most important item with which to fill your office is YOU! To refer to the paraphrase with which I began this article, "What you do speaks so loudly I can't hear what you say!" The ultimate success of your practice rises or falls on the attitude you bring into your office every day. You can have the most beautifully and professionally decorated office and still not prosper because you lack the faith, confidence and belief in Chiropractic as a first-rate healing art. Let's face it: you reap what you sow. By the way, don't be afraid to spend a couple of bucks to take your staff to seminars like Parker. A well educated, enthusiastic staff can be one of your best referral sources both in and out of the office. Learn how to use Chiropractic philosophy to get your staff excited about Chiropractic. If you can't get them turned on for money, you won't be able to get your patients turned on for anything! They say your staff is an outward extension of you. So it is with your office. Excitement and enthusiasm generate excitement and enthusiasm. Even if you're just starting out and can't afford the most sumptuous surroundings, what your office 'decor' needs most of all is the judicious application of your best entrepreneurial spirit. Tom Peters, lecturer, and author of Thriving on Chaos calls the entrepreneur a 'maniac with a mission!' If your mission is to get as many people as possible turned on to the amazing health possibilities of Chiropractic, get crazy about it! In the words of Dr. Richard Yennie, people should see a 'pink glow' over your office building when they pass by. This pink 'energy field' is generated by your unabiding willingness to pour your heart and soul into your practice and is the most important part of any office 'decorating scheme!' O.K., so the M.D. can still move into your office after you retire to Pismo Beach, but the office won't come equipped with the 'pink glow!' Oh, by the way: if you don't have a practice philosophy, get one! Phil Mancuso, D.C. President, GS Productions -- The patient education people! ************************* From & Date: [were deleted in error, apologies to author] Subject: RE: Healing Environments From: Lon Morgan Enjoyed your posting of 6/7 about your office. Yes, it's really easy when you see things daily to not notice them anymore. With respect to smell, I struggle to keep my office smelling neutral. I treat a fairly high number of headache and migraine patients. They frequently quite sensitive to any odors. I have had a couple of environmentally sensitive patients in the past. We would schedule them for right after lunch. I would refrain from wearing any shaving lotion that day and would stay at the office and keep the doors open for an hour or so. We have a couple of old "shake and bake" offices in my area that smell like a gym. Their idea of chiropractic is to rub in the smelliest things they can find. Guess that makes the patient feel like something is being done. Yes--CDS are the way to go. Would like to suggest the following. Get samplers of Windham Hill and then buy the CD of whatever artist you like best. Warehouse Records here recycles CDS at about 60% of original cost. I have samplers from about 6 years now. Even they are good because there is a constant change going on. I play of lot of Gary Lamb and Paul Lloyd Warner, some of Kitaro's are good if avante garde. If you like piano, suggest Danny Wright's "Time Windows" and "A Day in The Life..." I agree about the importance of frames. Paper or plastic taped or tacked to the walls is exceedingly unprofessional except for the occasional newspaper article. In my exam room I have the large Peter Bachin charts framed and glassed behind my exam table. Very handy when explaining to a patient where certain body parts are. I have the skeleton, the muscular system, and the nerve/blood vessel chart. If doing again, would leave off the latter as I find I seldom use it. The other area you didn't cover is cleanliness and general upkeep. If your patients are old enough to have failing vision, they may not be able to see it. Try crawling around on your knees and look at the bottom of tables, etc. Little marks on walls and paint should be taken off weekly, or better, whenever they are noticed. 409 does a good job, except it will take off fresh paint. For more serious marks on walls and woodwork, try a little Bon Ami on a dampened cloth. The cloth must be white or it may leave a colored streak on the wall. Don't use "green" cleansers--they leave tracks too. Remember to wipe down with damp cloth afterwards or even Bon Ami will leave a "frosty" look. I don't think you used the word "waiting room." That's good and the staff should also know that it is the "reception area." Ah--magazines. The pros say you should NOT have "People" in your reception area. I say whatever works. It is the most read magazine in our office. (We had one patient who would steal it regularly. Had to hide it when she came.) Perhaps that's because we have a contract with our patients that if they keep to their schedule, we will too--no waiting more than 15 minutes. In an emergency we communicate the nature of the hold up to them and offer to reschedule them later in the day or the next day. I have a broad mixture including Time, Popular Mechanics, American Health, Discover, Sunset, etc. Are you familiar with the Ebsco service? They take care of all our magazine ordering with one check/year. We remove the old magazines as soon as a new one comes unless they have some special article of wide interest. No complaints from patients that we get our magazines from the "old magazine store." Also recommend keeping a copy of "Good Pills, Bad Pills" our for patients to read. We also have a bookcase with books about health that patients can sign out. My favorite book, now in paperback, is "How to Survive the Loss of a Love." I have multiple copies and often insist that unhappy/troubled/depressed patients take it home. Have give away a number of copies too. Have also got some audio and video tapes for loan but they have not been very popular as I expected.