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clear search termsWhy They Keep Coming Back: Education, yes, but in a Certain Way!
In my experience, there are three things that our patients and clients most want from us over the long haul. Sure, they want to feel better. And sooner rather than later! But the *way* in which we support them – and the value we keep giving them *after* they start feeling better – is critical as to whether they remain long-term patients (and stay wildly satisfied and thus sending you referrals!). Your patients want these three, powerful outcomes: Education, Inspiration, and Empowerment. Today, I want to focus on Education.
If you want a patient to be wildly satisfied with your services, you’ve got to Keep Educating Them. Every single time. If you stop having a new, highly interesting, relevant, (and even provocative) topic to share with them every time you meet, it’s likely a matter of time before they drift away. This happens too if your “new information” is commonplace, already-read-it-a-dozen times type of guidance.
In my experience, savvy practitioners can have some awesome ideas about potent topics to cover with their patients. I find, however, that they make three common mistakes in the process of giving this education to their patients. These may seem straightforward on the surface, but the missed opportunity from each can be dramatic.
- Practitioners give their patients too much information at once. I don’t think giving your patient “a list of 20 powerful tools” all at once is particularly useful at all, actually. Or an e-book with 35 things healthy choices they should consider. A resource website with 50 articles. All these approaches can simply lead to overwhelm. And when people are overwhelmed by too much info at once, they actually tend to ignore or discard ALL of it (or at least large portions of it). It’s much better to dole out educational topics one at a time in a way that (1) gives the patient the opportunity to fully focus and absorb the information and (2) allows the patient to get inspired by what might be possible for them in light of this new information, and (3) ideally follows up with them to ask their feedback on specifically How they are inspired to use what they’ve learned.
We can only focus on so much at once. A child who receives one, precious gift will treasure, savor, and use it extensively; a child who receives 25 gifts at once is likely to miss out on fully experiencing most of them and to find it hard to focus and fully enjoy any of them. Share something short and interesting, provocative, and novel – but do so more often.
- Practitioners put pressure on themselves to generate all their own educational material. From scratch. Ugh, how exhausting! As the saying goes, don’t reinvent the wheel. When folks are asking you for insight on a new health headline, do you push yourself to pen your own explanation/rebuttal? Even if it’s not an area of passion or expertise for you? Or did you send your clients to a well-reasoned, provocative, credible resource for more information (being available to them, of course, for follow-up questions)? I highly encourage to lean on the latter. You don’t have to pen something new in order to gain reap authentic gratitude, credibility, and authority from your clients. It’s one of the reasons we not only allow but actively encourage our SAFM students to re-purpose all of our course content and handouts for their own practices.
You want to do your legwork, of course! Choose resources that are scientifically-anchored, inspiring, and rich with perspective that you agree with and feel comfortable affirming. Steer away from generic, conventional, echoing-the-headline options. For example, regarding the mass media coconut oil headlines from last week, I sent out this link to a lot of alarmed folks (a blog article by Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist): http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2017/06/american-heart-association-saturated-fat/. For those with a more clinical background who wanted a deeper dive, this one was a great fit (a podcast from Chris Masterjohn, who as usual is doing a great deep dive into the detail): https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/06/24/coconut-oil-killing-us/ .
- Practitioners don’t give their patients easy-to-use tools to implement healthier lifestyle choices. Especially in the world of functional medicine, most people are *not* making unhealthy choices because they are fully ignorant. Rather, they haven’t yet been able to find a way to implement the choices that is inspiring, convenient, and sustainable. Sure, a key part of the inspiration to make change is being thoroughly educated about exactly why the change should matter to them (i.e. something deeper than a newspaper headline). But hands-on sharing of empowering tools is also key. You can do this yourself or delegate to someone else in your practice (e.g. don’t know who? maybe it’s time to expand your practice or your referral network with a health coach or a health educator?). Here are some great examples (which you should definitely grab and reuse) that I have used often in my own practice (it’s early summer):
- You teach about the importance of organic foods. But starting from 0% organic can feel overwhelming. Where to start? The Environmental Working Group’s Clean 15 & Dirty Dozen list is a great choice. Just advise them to always choose organic for the Dirty Dozen and then not worry about it for the Clean 15. They even have a handy wallet card they can print out and carry with them. https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean_fifteen_list.php and https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty_dozen_list.php . This can go along a lesson about the importance of eating a colorful, rich mix of fruits and vegetables (because different phyto-nutrients have different colors.)
- You teach about the dangers of estrogen-mimicking chemicals. You emphasize personal hygiene products as a source, especially sunscreens. Don’t let them go to the local drugstore and try to “just figure it out”. The database Skin Deep features thousands of rated products and also shares each year their top picks for clean sunscreen products. http://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/ . This can go alongside a lesson about the importance of optimal Vitamin D levels.
- You teach about avoiding fish purchases which are at risk of being mercury-laden. Seafood Watch publishes state-specific, safe and sustainable seafood purchase guides for the US and several international guides as well (again, with an easy-to-print wallet list, if desired). This is another example of helping your patients to avoid guesswork and confusion while making healthier choices. http://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/consumer-guides . This can go alongside a lesson about the importance of consistent intake of omega-3 essential fatty acids.
If these tools are all part of a longer, optional, check-it-out-if-you-wish list, most of your patients will never benefit from the data. But if they are part of a targeted educational inquiry with an individual patient or a group but on a single topic or two, they are most likely to be valued and actually used.
These seemingly simple yet powerful choices in *how* you educate, inspire, and empower your patients can make all the difference in whether they end up being mildly vs.wildly satisfied with your services and how much they share your information with the people they know (doing your marketing for you!).
I am grateful to you for what you share with so many who want to finally be well.
P.S. If you are passionate about transforming healthcare through the power of functional medicine, we encourage you to learn more about our training program here.
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Greetings again-True that the only way to stay connected to SAFM after certification is achieved is to have a social media account?
Our AFMC Certification program involves two semesters (101 and 202). We also offer a full Masters level semester (303) beyond the certification. Beyond the three Semester programs, we offer a Continuing Access option which gives the practitioner access to (1) all prior course material (and access to take new Deep Dive clinical courses at will), (2) the Q&A Treasure Chest, (3) course-specific Q&A thread support on an ongoing basis, and also (4) the WS Forum (which is on social media at present). Participation in the social media access component is certainly not a requirement. I will offer, however, that some practitioners make the choice to have secondary, anonymous accounts which allow them to participate in the Forum without any connection to their personal account (keeping professional distance from their personal affairs as well as professional anonymity).