Patient Compliance

Who am I?

My spoilt youth:

• MB(hons), BS
• FRACGP
• FAMAC
• FICMT
• FANCEM
• OIRF
• Dip MAYR
• Dip MORA
• Adv Dip Naturopathy
• Adv Dip Western Herbal Medicine
• Adv Dip Nutrition

The Medical Board obliges me to tell my patients that I do not practice conventional medicine.

My daughters oblige me to tell you that I am:

• Male
• Chauvinistic
• And arrogant.
• Polish, Catholic & Fundamentalist
• Since we’ve got a German Pope, they call me a cranky old man
• Since I turned 60, they call me an old fart
• Since I got my sailor’s licence, they call me “Flipper” (I keep falling overboard all the time.)

By now I’ve got the patient’s attention, and usually laughing. Now I tell them: “My job is to find out why you haven’t cured yourself, because if you had the answer to that walnut, you wouldn’t be consulting with me. My job is to show you the path according to me. Your job is to carry out my instructions – to the letter.”

It’s my way or the highway!!

They can do it their way. But since that hasn’t worked so far, why come to me and tell me how to do it.

I have an enormous advantage over my competition. I am a medical doctor. I am proficient in a wide range of skills, including conventional medicine, “alternative” medicine, physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, naturopathy, homoeopathy, nosodes, reflexology, Bowen’s, acupuncture, EAV, MORA, (I developed) MORA Color Therapy, chiropractic, osteopathic, prolotherapy, orthomolecular medicine, UV blood therapy, phlebotomy, MAT, NAET, (I invented) MIASEM, AMSAT, and whole lot that I can’t remember at the moment.

I have 40 years of experience. It makes me an elder statesman. I only seek information from people who are cleverer than me. I go off-shore to get information. Not the USA, or NSW or England or Queensland, etc. To get a truly “second opinion” you have to enter a completely different culture, e.g., Germany, France, Italy, Russia. I only use methods that work consistently well. I only give anything new one chance. If it fails the first time, I don’t have the time nor the inclination to find out why it didn’t work.

I consider the world like a chess board.

There are 64 squares on the board. Each is a system all of its own. E.g. the Medicos have one. The chiropractors have one. The herbalists, acupuncturists, etc., all have just one square.

The problem is that each square is NOT allowed to be SEEN to touch its next door neighbor. The occupier of a particular square actually believes that they are the only square on the board. (A bit like the Catholics in heaven.) Each occupier will go to extraordinary lengths to preserve this belief system.

I’m a G.P. That means that I am a jack of all trades. I really don’t have a great depth of knowledge about a lot of things. But I know the pearls about a lot of things. I leave the details, the minutiae to those who are really obsessive about those kinds of things.

I am a pirate.

I trespass over everyone else’s square. I take what is easy, simple, quick and EFFECTIVE. Unlike a thief, I always own up to those from whom I have stolen the great ideas.

Most practitioners are happy with one or two or even three squares. And that’s on the basement floor. The reality is that there are 8 floors high.

And the bloody thing moves in time and space, across universes and dimensions and realities that even the most imaginative of us won’t conceive. So don’t limit yourselves.

I am not clairvoyant (patients like you to be spooky). I am not the Master Jesus, nor any kind of master (well I am a Master of Reiki level 6 whoohooo). I have a failure rate. The Medical Board says that 97% of my patients are their failures, but 91% of my patients achieve remissions.

I don’t know everything. But I DO know how to get your body healthy. I do take a very thorough history. I do a very thorough clinical examination. I use a bioelectrical device to find what’s hiding, e.g. Vega, RM 10, MORA Diagnostics. I understand Hans Selye’s Triad of intoxication and apply its principles to my practice.  I understand my physiology. All illness is physiology in action. I know where the blocks are to healing. I do quality control. And, I give a lucid explanation of the processes to my patients in a language that they understand. I give them loads of printed information.

COMPLIANCE:

What do you mean by compliance?

Are you going to “force” your patient into doing your will? That’s assault. I would suggest that compliance is none of your business. The patient has come to you. So they are already compliant.

If your diagnostics and programs are congruent, then you will increase the chances that your patient will be compliant. If they choose not to follow your instructions, then it is THEIR problem, NOT yours. Don’t ego trip over compliance. There is nothing you can do. Don’t make their getting better your focus. You job is to show them the route to healing. If it clicks with them, great. If it doesn’t, they’ll go somewhere else. Thank Goodness.

Know thyself.

1. Do an IPS (Innovative Practice Systems) course. Learn how to be a business man/woman.
2. Do a CAE “small business man’s course” and learn MYOB / QuickBooks / Excel
   Remember you can’t help anyone if you go bankrupt.
3. The Gerber method ♦
   T = Tecckie ♦
   E = Entrepreneur
   M = Manager
4. Know your stuff and be very good at it. Don’t start anything half cocked. But whatever you do, look confident. Patients will forgive you a lot.
5. The Silva Method.
6. Read widely e.g. New Scientist, Nexus, Mercola, OIRF, Natural Health, Harry Potter, Gemmell, Pratchett, etc.
7. Mix with people who will challenge your belief systems.
8. Have fun. Let the Mickey Mouse out of yourself. Drop the unexpected joke. Patients get all caught up in being sick. I tell them that it is a very clever thing that they have done in getting sick. But if they really wanted to be the centre of attention, running around in the nude might be less harmful to their longevity.
9. Admit you don’t know everything. But you are willing to have a go at it. After all, the worst that can happen is that they don’t get better.
10. Take the time to do the job properly.
    More is missed:

• • by not asking,
  • not looking,
  • not touching,
  • than by not knowing.

11. Stay away from labels. There is no such disease as osteo-arthritis. There are lazy pretenders who give things names and then treat the name and not the patient.
12. Learn from successful practitioners. You might just become as good as they are.
13. Be the very best you can. Then become better.
14. If something doesn’t work, dump it and use something different.
15. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.
16. I take an hour just to do a history and clinical examination.
17. Most of what we see is pre-clinical, pre-overt pathology. This is where we excel best.
18. Understand the principles of FOCUS. These are incidental to the illness but they will prevent you getting better.
19. I do a lot of pre-testing. E.g. HSQ, Heart sufficiency tests, Bio-Impedance, AMSAT
20. Use them as your quality control.
21. Give the patients a lot of good printed information about what you want them to do. A “Blue Book”.
22. Be very clear about your instructions.
23. Have a clear follow-up plan.
24. Use targeted medications. Anyone can buy Vitamin C, E probiotics, Omega3’s, etc. You should have very clear reasons why you want your patient to buy your product.
25. Demand to be paid at the time of the consultation. You are not a bank and you should not provide interest free loans to anyone.
26. Never give remedies on credit. For every week you don’t get paid, your chance of collecting fall by 20%.
27. To press the point, I don’t even have credit card facilities.
28. Have fun. Even a swear word is useful. I use the word “fornications – did I really say that” often.
29. Be loud in your praise for other practitioners.
30. Never bad mouth anyone. They are doing their best the only way they know how.
31. Accept compliments graciously. Say “thank you” when you are complimented. Patients like you to be a little surprised when they tell that a patient you haven’t seen for a long time is still well and healthy.
32. GENDER YOUR LANGUAGE. Titles create boundaries. Person vs man / woman. Patient vs client. (You love your patients. But you do business with your clients). Doctor (Are you a real doctor? Do you have a real university medical degree) Vs patient. If you want the kudos of a medico, become one.
33. We really need a different title for the rest of us.

Last of All

• Have a great therapy system.
• If you can, make it unique to your practice.
• Then you will have no competition.
• The only place that they can get your treatment is at your place.

ABOVE ALL

• care for your patients
• love your patients
• protect them from all harm

Thank You.

♦ The Gerber Method is a way of running your business, based on the MacDonald’s Model.  It literally underwrites a business success plan.
♦ Teckkie is slang for a practitioner or business/man, but only in their capacity as a doer, often as the only earner of income for the business. Everyone depends on them, but no one ever gives them any credit for the hard work they do. No-one gives them any support, but everyone wants to take from them.

An Exclusive Article for Members
From THE BRIDGE Newsletter of OIRF
Published December 2010

© Copyright 2010, Dr. Sir Zenon Gruba, Australia