NEW PATIENT VISIT SCRIPT

Three things the practice member must know when the doctor meets them for the first time:

  1. The doctor cares about the practice member.

  2. The doctor is confident in their abilities and acknowledges that the practice member may be suffering.

  3. Their problem is very serious.

Day 1 doctor’s mindset tips:

  1. Before the patient walks into the room, take a moment to visualize the consultation from start to finish and see it going successfully.

  2. Remember the seriousness of this visit.  This potentially new practice member has come to you for a reason that is very important to them.  They are giving you a chance to help them.  Recognize the seriousness of this responsibility by dropping the tone, volume, and cadence of your voice. Listen.

“Hello Ms. Jones, It is so nice to meet you, I’m Dr._______.” (Using their name helps to establish a better rapport)

    1. Shake hands using both hands…Your first contact must be as warm as possible…you are greeting an old friend or family member.

    2. Make eye contact – This lets the practice member know that you are one hundred percent present with them.

    3. Smile….give them your best caring, compassionate, loving look.

    4. If and when the practice member is seated face them at same level and give your full attention.

“I see in your form you came in concerned with ______________, tell me more about it.”

(Let practice member explain chief complaint)

As practice member explains their issues you should be actively taking mental notes, continuing with eye contact when possible, nodding, using an understanding and compassionate look, re-iterating what they say and in general establishing rapport. 

Note what the cause of their complaint is. Dig into lifestyle - work, gym, walking, sport, home life. Every complaint has a recent cause and they are in the clinic seeing you today for a reason. Keep asking questions and get them talking.

These notes can also be used later in the re-evaluation report to demonstrate changes that have occurred during their chiropractic care.

Examples: Can’t walk, can’t get off table, can’t sleep, and constant discomfort.

“Ok please come on over and let me have a look.”

- Do cervical and thoracic exams

Demonstrate how range of motion is decreased or imbalanced. 

Explain muscle tension. 

Show tender palpation.

Help them to understand the link between indicators and their complaint.

“Please lie face down”

- Patient prone, palpate from atlas to sacrum

Note: This where you do whatever you do to evaluate and determine the levels of spinal misalignment subluxation in your practice members.

“Come on up and be seated on the table. I can definitely see where your complaint is and have found the problem areas in your spine. What I am going to do is run you through a little science lesson, you probably know most of this, so you have an idea of what’s going on and what we are going to do to get your body back to normal.”

- Get spine model to explain vertebral subluxations and misalignment in your own language to the practice member.

Doctor’s mindset notes:  We must transition now from the caring listener to the loving authoritative health guide.  Eye contact once again is key. 

“ So this is the spine and it sits like this *demonstrate* 

What we have at the top here is the brain. The brain communicates all the functions of the body. 

My hand moving *demonstrate*

My heart beating *touch heart*

All the voluntary and involuntary functions of the body controlled by the brain.

The way it does this is through the central nervous system *show on model*

This is the main information highway for the body, all of your bodies messages go through here and then out through the nerves from the spine *show on model*

Now the way humans live our lives tends to be quite unnatural for the body. We do things at extremes, causing stresses through the body. For example - sitting at a desk for 8hrs, gym stresses, **name the reason they they're experiencing pain**

This causes postural misalignment and imbalance in the spine and that interferes with messages to the body.

The first manifestation is often stressed, tight or fatigued muscle. You can notice that imbalance almost immediately. You may notice how one leg or arm is weaker than the other. 

If left unchecked this is when you get something called pain. Pain is a message from your body to the brain that something is wrong.

What I found in your spine is low back (or neck, shoulder, thoracic) sprain and misalignment in the spine. 

My job as a Chiropractor is to find those areas of misalignment in your spine and balance it out. You should notice some pretty quick relief, better movement, function and performance from your body. If your happy with that, let's get started right away.

OK awesome! 

I’ll start with the lower back, let me get you on your side facing this way…”

- After adjustment

“ Great sit up, roll your neck and shoulders around.. feel lighter?

Awesome! Please stand up, how does your back feel?

OK great, now I don’t expect everything to disappear in one go. It will take at least 10 visits (example) and consistency through the program to get your body back to normal. But the fact you are feeling some improvement already shows we are in the right direction!

Now the hard part is done, please lie down so we can do a little muscle therapy, now your spine has been adjusted and the body in a new position.”

- Get patient lying down and play relaxing music

“If I can get you to take this time to practice your breathing and really relax taking deep breaths in and out”

- Set patient up with TENS machine. Start the machine and explain the process as you are operating the stimulator

“ Ok I’m going to use the TENS which is a neuromuscular stimulator to heal the muscle. This will run a low current through the deep tissue. The current will increase blood flow to the muscle and blood is what muscles need to heal. So it will help to relax and heal the muscle further.

You will feeling the muscles moving a little bit. This is totally normal. Its called a contraction or fasciculation and is a positive sign that the muscle reacting to the current.

“OK I’ve set it for 15-20 minutes, just relax and I will be right here.”

- This is a good opportunity to be doing your treatment notes. Welcome to start some casual chat to build rapport if it feels appropriate.