For the chiropractor that enjoys teaching his patients with in-office lay lectures or has incorporated a detailed report of findings, a natural next step is to move into the industrial arena and teach employees. With low back pain continuing to be the scourge of the work force, producing a heavy burden on industries and chiropractors being the experts on bio-mechanical lower back pain, there is a need for you to assist industries with your knowledge. There is more to an industrial back talk than just coming in and lecturing. In this article, we hope to touch on a majority of the factors that you should consider prior to starting to properly interact with industries.
The first and most important factor is to go with the goal of educating employees not to get new patients. Unfortunately, chiropractors have violated this rule and have actively "recruited" new patients while giving lectures or taking tours of the office or factory. Not only does this cause problems for the chiropractor who committed the act, it shuts the doors for other more ethical doctors to work with that industry. The news spreads fast between industries and soon the region is shut down. We understand that you need new patients to survive in business, but you should be developing relationships with your industrial contacts. These relationships will generate new patients based upon trust and clinical results. Quick marketing ploys are short lived and result in poor reputations that will haunt you and other chiropractors for years. The basic concept is "Educate, don't create."
A brief example of this occurred where a chiropractor went on an industrial tour, found trigger points on multiple workers and talked a couple into coming into his office. Soon the whole line was in. While this may have been good for the workers, the industry was devastated. They now had 13 workers' compensation claims from that single visit. They were angry at the chiropractor for "creating" an epidemic in their factory. The doctor received 13 new patients and a negative reputation which followed him to any other industry he attempted to gain entry to. Go in with the goal and purpose of educating not creating conditions to get new patients.
How do you prepare for your industrial talk? Be ready beforehand, so that when the opportunity arises, you are prepared. We get many doctors frantically calling us asking for help as they have to put on a program, usually within the next couple of days. While this can be done, the best way is to properly prepare for your talk. There are several pre-made talks for you to give. We always suggest that the doctor take a pre-made program and other pre-made program and modify them to personalize the presentation to the specific industry.
Think about what happens when you get back your packet of family pictures from the developer. Most people either stop at or look for the pictures that contain them. Depending on the type of pictures involved, there is usually a constant that people will be more interested in pictures that contain their family, friends or selves. We suggest that you intermingle pictures of the workers or factory into the concepts of the pre-made program to make it more real and interesting to the employees. Some companies have rules or policies about filming their employees, so you will need to get permission to take and process the pictures. Some industries will also have you take the pictures, but they process the film and keep the pictures and negatives for your in-house presentation. This allows you to personalize the program without jeopardizing their security.
The subject you choose to lecture on can vary, but we have found that talks on lower back injury prevention along with repetitive motion syndromes have been good starting programs. Once you start, you can move onto subjects like ergonomics or stretching programs.
Keep the concepts of your industrial talk simple. Doctors generally want to demonstrate their vast knowledge of a certain subject. Many doctors virtually put their audience to sleep because they're being too technical. Presentations that combine simple concepts with pictures are much more effective than complicated oral ones. In our beginning years, we experimented with different programs and always found that the most successful were picture-orientated. Our slide programs were then developed around changing complicated biomechanical concepts into simple pictures. Both the understanding and follow-through were dramatically better with this new picture system.
We also found that when we did pre-talk testing of the employees, they then keyed in on the important aspects of the talk. We made our tests fun, as most people do not want to take "tests." We found that when we made the tests short and included some humorous questions or questions that were special to that company (inside jokes) that the response was much better. We have also done post-talk testing to reinforce what was said at the talk.
In preparation for the talk, we highly recommend taking three to four lunch hours or after-work hours to familiarize yourself with the company. Meet with the safety or human resource person and tour the company. Learn the different jobs in each department. Request to perform many of the jobs. Just like watching the ice skaters or gymnasts at the Olympics, they make it look much easier than it really is. Both of us have shut down many lines in attempts to perform jobs with the workers. This experience of working directly with the employee is invaluable when you are doing your talk as they now know you know what you are talking about. By getting in there with them, you learn their lingo, are better able to relate to what they do each day and then can provide better solutions in your presentations.
Some companies will let you videotape the work force. These tapes are very useful in presenting programs to employees. When using videos, you want to let the employees help you find a solution. Present a concept such as repetitive twisting of the lower back or neutral posture of the wrist and then let them critique themselves on the video with you acting as the facilitator. We have found that the success rate is much higher with those employees who solve their own problems compared to those who are shown what they are doing wrong and how they have to correct it.
You will need to find the amount of time allocated for your talk and stay within that time limit. Modify your programs so that you cover the most important aspects. Many times you will have to do multiple talks to get all of the information to the employees. Time is money, and when employees are not working or the line is down, the clock is ticking. You have to be very aware of your time schedule and practice ahead of time to ensure that you complete your talk within the allocated time.
The secret to a great talk is preparation. Give the talk to your family or staff members, or even as an in-office lecture to patients, so that you are familiar with the subject and amount of time that it takes to properly present it. Visit the company prior to the talk. Get right in there with the employees and understand their jobs and lingo. Incorporate pictures of them doing the job or videos of them working with your pre-made programs to personalize your program. Keep the concepts and language simple. Create positive relationships rather than hunt for new patients, and your industrial presentation will be a rewarding experience for you and your practice.
Scott Bautch, DC, DACBOH, CCST
Wausau, Wisconsin
Steven Conway, DC, DACBOH, JD, CCST
Janesville, Wisconsin
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