It's not too late! If you aren't already signed up to have up-to-date marketing information delivered directly to your inbox, do so here:→
In the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, there’s a story about an experiment. Subjects were giving songs to tap out by hand, such as “Happy Birthday” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” It’s somewhat like playing a piano when the piano doesn’t make noise.
The subjects thought the guessers would get half the songs right. The actual number was 2% - only one in 50!
Another story is given of engineers who design very precise and expensive equipment for computer chip manufacturing. The technicians who assemble the plans had to interpret them and make them reality. A researcher found that if the technicians didn’t understand the plans, the engineers would make them more elaborate, thinking this would help technicians to understand what was needed.
It just made the problem worse.
As explained in the book:
The engineers were behaving like American tourists who visit foreign countries and try to make themselves understood by speaking english more slowly and loudly. They were suffering from Curse of Knowledge. They had lost the ability to look at a technical drawing from the perspective of a non-expert.
What does this have to do with you?
If you converse with patients using words like chi, meridians, even heat or damp, you’re speaking jargon. Even when a patient is somewhat educated and conversant in Oriental medical terminology, it’s always helpful to put it in layman’s terms.
The solution to the engineers/technician problem turned out to be a common language. And the common language wasn’t the plans, which only the engineers truly understood. It was the actual machinery - which both understood.
Talking using big words and terminology just alienates people. For something like Western medicine that most people aren’t skeptical about, it doesn’t drive away patients. But for something like Acupuncture, skepticism + jargon = lost patients.
Be sure to talk in terms patients can relate to. Even if they understand what you’re saying, will they relate to it?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Joe // Jul 29, 2008 at 12:22 pm
On Burton’s suggestion I tested it out, qi vs imbalances. And imbalances won everytime. It is better to ease patients into the language of TCM, and can be more powerful as a relationship builder as well.
My dad has been going to a teacher of mine for a number of years. After he went for maybe about 2-3 months, she gave him her theory on his illness, how it was rooted in imbalances caused by emotions linked to specific organs. It was very powerful for him to hear it this way as opposed to the first visit.
2 Lisa // Jul 29, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Well put by Burton and Joe’s comment. I actually encountered this today and I am happy to say I decided to not tell my new patient her diagnosis. I will slowly reveal it to her and educate her about “imbalances”.
3 Michael // Jul 29, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Has anyone used the ‘Report of Findings’ by acupuncturemediaworks.com? (basically it explains the imbalances and connections - generating and control cycles, Qi flow, etc.) I have been filling them out and reviewing it with patients on the second visit. How do we know when to educate people? What is the right time? We have to educate them to market to them / receive referrals right? I’m curious to know what has worked best for everyone else.
4 Allan Fradsham // Jul 30, 2008 at 8:25 am
I find using analogies the best way to talk to my patients for example talking about the kidneys as the root of life in the body (pre-heaven) or saying that they are like a bank account in which we draw from to keep ourselves going. We have to draw more form the account when we are not getting enough rest, nutrition, ect. And we need to draw less when we have all of those things taken care of. I explain that when the bank account is empty we die. But I also am quick to say that we have to take less out to keep us going when we are getting all the essentials like rest and nutrition. This is like a car the better tuned it is, and the better quality fuel you use the better the mileage and the less wear on the car. These are just a couple that I use a lot and I find that people can relate to them well. Most people have experience with cars and fuel but few with kidney yang and qi.
5 Burton Kent // Jul 30, 2008 at 8:48 am
Michael:
The “Report of Findings” comes from the Chiropractic world. If you find it works, by all means use it. (I haven’t seen it.) But experience shows that people don’t relate to AOM concepts, unless they’re very into New Age ideas. In most areas, there’s just not enough of those patients to make a living.
I would start educating patients from day one, just make sure it’s something they can understand and relate to. An educated patient is your best source of referrals.
Allan:
Great idea. Made To Stick (mentioned above) has a LOT of good discussion of using analogies. Not just verbal analogies, but visual ones too.
Your analogy does an excellent job of translating AOM terms into something people can actually relate to.
Leave a Comment