Did you miss these subjects in chiropractic school?

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.

Below are the course names, links, professors, course descriptions, and why I added them to the list. Enjoy!

1. Health Literacy and communication for health professionals

University of Nebraska Analisa McMillan, MSEd and Denise H. Britigan, PhD, MA, CHES

Chiropractic has many subspecialties which can be confusing to patients. You’ll need to be able to quickly and efficiently explain how you help your patients.

“In the United States, two-thirds of the population read at an eighth-grade level or below. When it comes to health information, most Americans have the ability to read and write at the fifth-grade level. This inter-professional course will help educate a variety of health professionals about health literacy efforts and improved communication skills.

We are also using the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Literacy discussion paper, “Ten Attributes of Health Literate Health Care Organizations” as a guide. Often, current health professionals and healthcare settings often assume that “one size fits all” when it comes to communicating health messages. This course will focus on some approaches to becoming a health literate health care organization by using scenarios with actors based on patient experiences, by also letting patients share their experiences in their own words, and by offering suggestions for improvement in health communication.”

2. Intro to financial accounting

University of Pennsylvania Brian J Bushee and Geoffrey T. Boisi

Even if you plan on hiring an accountant, mastering the basics will help you get a loan, set financial goals, and keep track of your personal finances too.

“By the end of this course, you’ll be able to read the three most common financial statements: the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. Then you can apply these skills to a real-world business challenge as part of the Wharton Business Foundations Specialization.”

3. Systems thinking in public health

Johns Hopkins University David Bishai MD, PhD and Ligia Paina PhD

There are many opportunities for chiropractors to help prevent disease and disability. Perhaps this class will give you some ideas of where to look.

“Systems thinking and systems models devise strategies to account for real world complexities.

This work was coordinated by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, the World Health Organization, with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. Additional support was provided by the Department for International Development (DFID) through a grant (PO5467) to Future Health Systems research consortium.”

4. Budgeting and scheduling projects

University of California, Irvine Margaret Meloni

When you run your own business, you need to get things done yesterday. There’s never enough hours in the day. This course in the project management series will ensure your office is ready for patients by opening day.

“A good project schedule helps all team members’ work together to meet project objectives. A project budget with realistic cost constraints is also an essential bedrock of any project. In this course you’ll learn to plan and stick to time and cost constraints in order to ensure the success of your projects.”

5. International hospitality and healthcare services marketing

Yonsei University Sunmee Choi

Chiropractors have some of the highest patient satisfaction ratings in all of healthcare. Let’s keep it that way. This course will help you find some similarities between hospitality and healthcare. What’s your strategy for keeping your patients happy and healthy?

“Identify the unique characteristics of service businesses and create successful management strategies to better manage the role of customers to gain desirable business outcomes, better market products than are intangible, and better manage customer expectations and perceptions.

Gain insights from the innovative approaches in the service industry overall, in hospitality and health industry in particular, and better develop innovative strategies in your industry.”

Randy Thompson, DC, is a 2016 graduate of New York Chiropractic College. Thompson enjoys the challenge of effectively communicating research for practical use and turning satisfied patients into passionate advocates. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/RandyThompsonDC.