134: Dr. Google and the Chiropractor

How can you use Dr. Google to build your Chiropractic credibility? How can you use Dr. Google to build your chiropractic credibility? Hi, everybody. Welcome to the KC ChiroPulse podcast brought to you by Kats Consultants, helping doctors keep their pulse on success. I'm Dr. Michael Perusich, and I'm joined in the studio today with my good friend and co-host, Dr. Troy Fox. Troy, you talk about this all the time, Dr. Google and the things that patients come in talking about that they've read about on the internet. Oh, yeah. You know what I noticed as we start talking today? Look how big my head is. I am a gigantic individual in comparison to you. It's that, uh, plastic deformation. Yeah. Dr. Google, you know, Dr.Google has been a good thing for our patients from a standpoint of them understanding where aspects of chiropractic care, they all come, they harebrained ideas, right? They come in with some crazy stuff every once in a while, some crazy town. My famous phrase with patients is always You know, you should, you should, when you take a look at this. You could call a horse a horse until you find out it's a zebra, you know that. And then, and then I talk about, you know, some of the times in school as students, where we would look at these crazy, you know, off the hook, um, these processes that happened to one half of 1% in the population. And it only occurred in Ethiopia to women in their twenties and thirties, like, and we're looking at it. Yeah. And so we're looking at a 50 year old male trying to determine that that's what has happened to that person. Or they come in saying, Hey, I looked up Dr. Google and I think that this is what I have. And so it becomes a real opportunity. And that's what you and I talked about before. I mean, what do you think those opportunities are from a standpoint of us working with patients? You know, number one, I think it's great when patients come in and they've done a little bit of research and you know, of course they don't have the diagnostic skills, but I like to tell them, you know what, let's put that on the list of things. And as we go through this, we start to narrow down, we'll consider whether or not you have. Osteopoikilosis or whatever it might be, whatever they read, read on the, on the internet. And I think it's just a great way for us to focus on what's their knowledge base coming in the door and how we can play on that to Not, not make them feel dumb or, or, you know, like they've, like they've mis-researched because they haven't, they just don't know how to tie all the dots together, but that when we tie all the dots together and show them how their diagnosis fits together and how, you know, that's their condition, then we've built our own credibility by doing that with the patient. And I think as you're looking at this, one thing I think that we have to remember as chiropractors is that you are the subject subject matter experts in your field, it was, it was, it was interesting this morning I was talking to an ER doc and we were talking about his low back and his frequency of. Care, and we kind of talked a little bit about what happens in a hypoxic situation with was saying L5 S1 disk space, and he was like, wow, you really know your stuff because you know better than I do. I kind of really didn't realize it went through all that. And I was like, yeah, I said, that's, that's the process it goes through. That's why we always have concern for our patients about getting care. And so I think sometimes even when you're speaking to another medical professional, you have to realize when it comes to spinal problems, you're kind of the, you're kind of the hot thing on the block. We're the bomb. Absolutely. Yeah. And I've had that same experience before. You know, I can remember one time a general surgeon who. Practice just right down the street from me. His wife was having some back pain. He brought her in. He wanted to see everything that I did and the process that we went through, not because he was questioning anything. He was just curious. And so going through the x rays with him, he same thing, same experience. Wow. You guys know so much about the spine. It's unreal. And I said, and you know, so much about how to remove somebody's gallbladder. That's unreal to me. You know, it's the same. Right. We got it. We own the lane when it comes to the spine. Yeah. And so that gives you an opportunity when your patients come in and this is this, uh, this was really the, the kind of the impetus for us doing this is you gain credibility. Just like you do. I can gain credibility with a medical professional when they go, Whoa, I didn't realize you knew that much about the spine and the disc space and yeah, or about those x rays or whatever. You gain the same credibility with your patients. When you start dialoguing with patients that have done a little Dr. Google action, all of a sudden they realize that you know the subject inside and out. Use that opportunity. Opportunity don't shrug it, but make sure that you're working on the patient while you're doing that. In other words, you don't have to spend 30 minutes with the patient. Adjust them while you're talking about this stuff. Sure. They're really great. It's a really great intro to maybe why they need a little bit more care. Or why is that right? Fifth lumbar and SI joint bothering me at the same time. Well, you know, remember when we look back at your x rays, blah, blah, blah. So it gives you a great opportunity to, to, to become the credibility and, and the subject matter expert. Yeah. I love that terminology, the subject matter expert, because that's really what we are. And, you know, you don't want to shove your knowledge down the patient's throat. So it's always good to find out what did they know coming in? What have they already researched? What did they already looked at online and how does that play into what their thought process is about showing up in your practice? And you parlay off of that to not only. Understand where they're coming from when they walk in, but using it not to belittle them, but using it to turn it around and build your own credibility. Okay, so you came in, you thought it was sciatica, you know, actually, here's what's going on. You have a, what I call a sister diagnosis to that you have piriformis syndrome and here's the good news is much easier to treat, blah, blah, blah, blah. And the patient then immediately knows they're in the right place and you just have instant credibility. Right, right. That's so you, you're building that strong patient relationship right off the bat. And that's right where you need to be. So, and sometimes it happens early on with a new patient, or it might be a react, or it may be in the case of where I was at, I bought someone else's practice and I had to gain credibility with the patients that I'm working with. They trusted the other doc. Doctor that they were working with, they were happy with the other doctor they were working with. All of a sudden, they come in and see me. Does this guy know what he's doing? Does he know how to adjust me? Right. So all of a sudden, we start talking about things that are important to them and they realize that I do have. You know, that, that subject matter expertise, it creates credibility for me. And now we're off to the races. Now I am a trusted chiropractor for them as well. So I think it's really easy to do. I've been doing it all day, every day for the last two weeks. Yeah. So, and it's fun. It's fun. And it gets the patients really talking too, when you're, especially in those initial stages of care, you know, when you're doing the exam and you're trying to do the report of findings, you know, when they've done that research and they've been on Google and they all do it, we know it. Um, Look at it as a bonus when they come in and say, Hey doc, it was on the internet. Here's what I found. I think it's one of these things. Great. Let's throw those cards out on the table and let's see how this all plays together. And when you pull the patient into the thought process of how you made the diagnosis and so forth, not only do you create credibility, but they now have a deeper understanding of what's going on with them and what your treatment recommendations are and how it all plays together. Now they're engaged in care. And that helps them stay in care until they see the results that they need. So the, the whole Dr. Google thing, big bonus, in my opinion. I think so as well. It beats, it really beats that patient that walks in and goes, I don't know what I got going on. Don't care. I have a high pain tolerance, pop my back and I'm out of here. Instead, these people actually read and they're like, okay, whoa. And it gives you an opportunity to interject as well. Here's what we've seen on a national level. Um, You know, so far as the condition that we're looking at, typically it's going to take, you know, X number of visits to treat this, we're going to see you for six visits and we're going to, and then we're going to take a look at you and we'll reevaluate where you're at at that point and move forward from there. So it gives you a lot of opportunity at that point to also talk about how we're going to monitor your condition. So we now have an idea of what's going on based off your Dr Google review and my exam. We put those two things together. Now we're going to, and so they're, they're engaged in the process at that point, because they realize that it's more than just a one off little tiny thing, this is actually something that might take a little work and effort for me to get past. And then when they get that aha moment, it makes it much easier for you to make a proper recommendation for the patient. Yep. Because they now know that they need to get care. So it's a phenomenal thing across the board. It just is good that patients have more information. Love it. So use it to your benefit. Use Dr. Google to help build your credibility and get your patients engaged in the care process. All right, everybody. I think that's it for us today here at KC CHIROpulse podcast brought to you by Kats Consultants. Hey, do yourself a favor. Jump onto our website, Katsconsultants.com, download our latest white paper, our annual mid year review that we do every year. You don't want to practice the rest of the year without it and check out all the great things that we're doing to help doctors find the path to success and to sunburn, burn our noses on the weekend. Anyway, all right, from all of us here at Kats Consultants, we will see you all next time. See ya.