{"id":1176,"date":"2005-05-30T13:47:28","date_gmt":"2005-05-30T18:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/?p=1176"},"modified":"2011-01-24T13:48:37","modified_gmt":"2011-01-24T19:48:37","slug":"overcoming-the-challenges-of-chiropractic-patient-education-in-the-pharmaceutical-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/overcoming-the-challenges-of-chiropractic-patient-education-in-the-pharmaceutical-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming The Challenges of Chiropractic Patient Education in the Pharmaceutical Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may not know the extent to which your patients are being influenced to subscribe to the pharmaceutical model of symptom relief, but it is enormous. This short article gives some tips on how and why to combat it with effective chiropractic patient education.<\/em><\/p>\n

Every now and then we send out information about our colossal health care system and the vested interests that profit most from it.<\/p>\n

Why? Because it is within this macro-system that your patients, and their M.D.\u2019s, are being bombarded by a constant stream of propaganda about \u201chealth\u201d care solutions.\u00a0 It is good to know, and be reminded of,\u00a0 what you are up against in promoting your own services.<\/p>\n

Our health care system and culture are under an all out assault by drug companies to sell their products.\u00a0 In 2003, roughly 15.7 billion was spent marketing drugs in the US, and this has been estimated to be increasing annually about 20% each year.1\u00a0 Also in 2003, 4.8 billion dollars were spent in \u201cdetailing\u201d physicians, which includes dropping off free samples at the doctor\u2019s office, taking them to lunch, etc.\u00a0 Drug reps meet with individual M.D.\u2019s\u00a0 an average of four times per month.2\u00a0 Then, there is the estimated $750 million dollars drug companies have spent on lobbyists in the last 7 years to in influence Congress and Administration officials. 3<\/p>\n

Why do they spend so much on marketing and lobbying? It pays. The pharmaceutical industry continues to be the most profitable US industry, with profit margins in the year 2000 nearly four times the average of Fortune 500 Companies.4<\/p>\n

Driven by such marketing, \u201cthe value of the US pharmaceutical market is expected to top $330 billion in 2006\u2026\u201d \u201cThe US market will thus account for over 60% of the total Market Prognosis International market, up from 56% in 2001. US per capita expenditure on drugs will reach well over $1,000, which will be double the expenditure in Japan and three times that in the UK.\u201d 5<\/p>\n

Medical students, not yet caught up in the Medical-Pharmaceutical Complex, are protesting this kind of advertising.\u00a0\u00a0 The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation\u2019s largest, independent medical student organization adopted, a policy at its annual meeting condemning drug industry-sponsored advertising and supporting medical school curriculum that prohibits pharmaceutical industry representatives from marketing to medical students. 6<\/p>\n

Excellent service and care to your patients<\/span> is the first step to successful practice. Good internal organization<\/span> that supports this comes next. And effective marketing<\/span>, both internally and externally comes third.<\/p>\n

We consider patient education part of your marketing efforts, though it also has its clinical role as well.\u00a0\u00a0 Marketing is especially important in chiropractic offices because of the leadership role you play in the health care system.\u00a0 Chiropractors and their staffs have been at the vanguard in natural health care for over 100 years.<\/p>\n

Patient education is most effective, we feel, if it comes from a larger understanding of the health care system your patients are in.\u00a0 It works best when its mission is more<\/span> than just to educate the patient, but to enlighten and motivate them into action<\/span>. It has to counter the dominance of the medical-pharmaceutical forces bearing down on them.<\/p>\n

The doctors we have seen who do the best at patient education have taken it on as a personal issue, as the medical students who protest drug reps. You and your staff have many opportunities to educate your patients: \u201ctable talk\u201d in your adjusting rooms, in the reception area, during therapy, back care classes, report of findings, group report of findings, spinal care classes, newsletters, to name just a few. Pamphlets will help, but for it to be effective, it has to be personally driven by your passion and sense of leadership.<\/p>\n

Once a month or so, we also recommend that you read an article or book relating to the this subject. The references\u00a0below may be helpful in this regard.
\n1,2,3. New England Journal of Medicine, Meredith Rosenthal (www.therubins.com<\/a>) 4. \u201cOff the Charts: Pay, Profits and Spending by the Drug Companies\u201d, a 38 page article found at\u00a0 www.FamiliesUSA.org<\/a> Click here <\/a>to go to article.\u00a0 5. IMS HEALTH is a supplier of market research to the global pharmaceutical industry. www.ims-global.com\/index.html<\/a> Click here <\/a>to go to article. \u00a06. American Medical Students Association (www.amsa.org\/news\/release2.cfm?id=223<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may not know the extent to which your patients are being influenced to subscribe to the pharmaceutical model of symptom relief, but it is enormous. This short article gives some tips on how and why to combat it with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chiropractic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1177,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions\/1177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmaworks.com\/observations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}