In our practice the words ‘Fix’ and ‘Cure’ are banned! Why? Because, quite simply they don’t exist.
Hi, I’m Dr. Andrew Arnold (Chiropractor) from Million Dollar Wellness and in this article, I want to talk about what I call the ‘Fix It’ trap.
I spent the first half of my career in the FIX/CURE model and just about burnt out. Once I moved to the Managed MODEL my entire practice shifted, and so did my clientele.
The medical model in today’s society is very much about CURE and FIX. You go to your GP with symptoms and signs. The GP looks for a cause or causes and provides you with treatment to address both. The symptoms and signs go away and your ‘CURED’! After a while though, they re-appear, or you start suffering side effects from the medications used to ‘CURE’ your original signs and symptoms, or other problems develop from the surgery.
You go back to your GP and say, ‘you know that problem I had that you ‘FIXED’, well it’s back and worse, or now I have other complications relating to that problem.
Healthcare is a continuum. It involves degrees of management over time.
And this applies to all types of healthcare, from medical to allied health to wholistic.
The truth is you are never the same after an illness, or injury or rash or any other symptom. Your body recovers sure, but there are always scars.
And then there’s the ageing process. We literally are not the person we were year to year.
In our practice our practitioners are taught to support their clients to ‘project manage’ their own health. They are taught to collaborate, provide information, resources etc. but at the end of the day it’s not their body it’s YOURS. There is always more to a client’s story and ultimately, it’s not the responsibility of the practitioner to FIX or CURE our client’s problems, that’s up to them.
They need to turn up, follow all recommendations, full invest in the process. The practitioner needs to deliver a justifiable treatment program with integrity and honesty, knowing when to refer on and to whom in the spirit of an ongoing management process.
This takes enormous pressure off the practitioner and frees up the energy between practitioner and client.
This takes faith, confidence and belief in the practitioners’ abilities from both sides of the fence. It’s very much about standing in your power.
So, I implore you. Move away from the FIX or CURE model. Change your clients thinking. Don’t talk right or wrong, good or bad. It just is what it is. Now let’s work on a management plan.
You’re FIX/CURE mentality clients will probably drop off. You don’t need them. They are best suited to those practitioners who want to play this game and by the way, in my view that’s very much about ego but that’s for another day. As you move into managed healthcare you will attract more of the same. And more will stay with you once the pain has gone because they understand pain is NOT THE WHOLE DEAL.
About the Author:
Dr. Andrew Arnold (Chiropractor) is a Chiropractor and the Million Dollar Wellness Mentor.
Founder: Cranbourne Family Chiropractic and Wellness Centreand Million Dollar Wellness
Andrew is married to Dr. Linda Wilson, the Stress Specialist and has two children, Isaac and Bella. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.