Personal Development

Did you have a mentor at the beginning of your professional chiropractic career? If you did, it’s highly likely that you are grateful for the guidance and support that your mentor provided and you still keep in touch. Having a strong chiropractic mentor goes beyond meeting every once in a while for coffee. In an ever-evolving health care environment, a mentor can help you navigate the field and better understand how to help out individuals from all walks of life.

If you’re nearing graduation, it may seem daunting to think about treating patients on your own. This will be especially true if you’re building your own practice from the ground up, but it’s also true if you’re joining a practice with a group of other doctors. Either way, you’ll need to begin with good business habits that will help you build your patient base from day one. To really build your business and get better clinical outcomes, it can make a big difference to incorporate nutrition into your practice right from the start.

When new patients call for an appointment, that phone call is their first impression of your practice, so it should be welcoming and professional. And just as important is their first visual impression of your office. Does your office reflect prestige and respect, or present a cold atmosphere and a lack of confidence? If the patient’s first impressions are good ones, that can lead to more informative doctor- patient interactions.

In my first trimester at New York Chiropractic College, all incoming first-year students were assigned a student mentor. The advice mine gave me was: “You must take care of yourself if you’re going to take care of others.” In that spirit, here are some techniques to keep you on top of your health even when the demands of chiropractic school and beginning practice become overwhelming. Get into a routine and stick to it: For example, if you are a morning person, get up before your first class or morning shift to go to the gym or for a run. This is your sacred time, and once your routine is established, breaking it becomes difficult.

For those of you looking to open up a practice after graduation, here are a few classes that you might not have taken in chiropractic school. Gain insights from online education courses that can fill in the gaps of what school might have missed. Listed are the course names, links, professors, course descriptions, and why I added them to the list.

Over the last few years, the most pressing question asked by students getting ready to graduate is, “Should I start out as an chiropractic associate or as an independent contractor?” Rumor has it that one method may be better than the other. In some cases, a field doctor may be offering a position or proposal that seems irresistible. Whatever the case, consider the facts and remember that if an offer sounds almost too good to be true, it probably is

The number of opportunities you have for professional advancement should be determined by your ambition, not your bank account. While chiropractic school will provide you with the knowledge you need to pass boards, learning outside of the classroom is a necessity to get the most out of your time as a student. Chiropractors may bicker and squabble over philosophy, but the one thing everyone can agree on is the need for the future chiropractors to be motivated to improve the profession.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend recently about three components of chiropractic; namely, the philosophy, science, and art of it. We agreed there is an imbalance among the three, and after a couple of hours of sometimes quite spirited talking, we decided science was the easiest to agree on. I mentioned my memory […]

Mistakes are inevitable and they can be learning experiences, so don’t fear them. But if you can avoid or minimize making mistakes, you will be in a better position because they can cost you both time and money. And because experience is a great teacher, do listen to your teachers and those who have gone […]

There are key qualities and characteristics that make the difference between those who are just proficient and those who prevail as they start their career in chiropractic. The latter group achieves and thrives at the level they dreamed of – whatever that level may be. As you consider the following “C’s of success,” do a […]