The ensuing section is intended rather more for the use of the practitioner than for the guidance of the student but may furnish the student a preconception which will prepare him somewhat, before leaving college, to meet the problems of practice.
Just as too frequently the young Chiropractor overlooks the fundamental logic of Chiropractic which may be epitomized with the terse command, “Adjust the cause,” and considers his practice as requiring him to dabble in every suggested or discovered method of treating effects, so, too frequently, the young Chiropractor is prone to consider that his practice consists solely of the adjustment of vertebrae, that he practices a mechanic art rather than a profession; too frequently he overlooks the thousand details which lead to and surround the adjustment and are essential to its success.
The practice of Chiropractic involves more than correct technic. It includes the use of a vast fund of knowledge; the constant study of diseases and of patients; the art of controlling and directing others sometimes in their very trivial acts. Successful practice requires a proper setting, proper business methods, and a knowledge of psychology.
Anyone entering upon a profession assumes a great moral responsibility and the greatest responsibility of all falls upon the doctor, of whatever school. He enters the stricken home at a time when all members of the household are off guard, as it were, at a time when all turn to him as to one of higher knowledge and of greater power for their guidance and often for their strength in affliction; he becomes the repository of their most sacred confidences. He who is unable to meet this responsibility, to realize his influence and his power and to prepare himself with care and conscientious training to acquit himself well, has mistaken his calling. He is unfit for his ministry.
The thorough student wrestles not alone with the technic and the text-book branches necessary in practice but also studies his profession from every possible standpoint, broadening his field of usefulness wherever possible.
This section does not by any means contain all the information not found elsewhere in this book but necessary to the Chiropractor in his practice. It is intended merely to suggest some of the many sides and phases of our work and to open the way for a life study of humanity and of professional life as a Chiropractor.
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Value of First Appearance
The patient, upon first entering an office, consciously or unconsciously forms an estimate of the personality and standing in his profession of the occupant of that office. This impression is gathered from the kind and arrangement of the furniture and visible equipment, from the neatness or disorder of the room, from countless little things which play each their part in making up the whole appearance. This first estimate is sometimes the only one, for an unfavorable first impression may lead to the loss of a prospective patient. In any case it will play a part in all subsequent judgments which the patient may form concerning the Chiropractor and his work.
Many patients entering our offices have no previous knowledge of our profession; their minds are open and curious, alert for new impressions of some sort. We may impress them as we choose. Every good business or professional man realizes the value of the first impression and strives for a good one. Therefore, upon entering practice, choose for yourself every article which shall have a place in your office. Your surroundings will then truly reflect your personality and will attract those upon whom that personality can work in harmony and understanding. It is of no avail to attract the type of patients you cannot hold, to draw through the borrowed judgment or taste of another surroundings alien to yourself and thus to attract people who will at once sense the incongruity and be repelled by it.