Choosing a health practitioner

With New Years Eve and resolutions starting to brew, I thought it would be a great idea to address this issue.

Who do you trust with your health program in 2019?

What program will you invest in? Maybe with little return, maybe it will change your life? Read below to find out some tips on choosing a health practitioner whom is suitable for your needs.

How Many HUNDREDS of DOLLARS HAVE YOU WASTED on Doctors and Health Care Professionals in an attempt to find the PERFECT practitioner? If You are Like Most People I Consult, then You Will Have Lost Approximately $1000 Before you get to READ this.

This report is a 30 Year Culmination of My Professional Experience and What I Hear People Asking for and I Know You can SAVE HUNDREDS by Reading this Information.

At the end of the day, I think choosing a good health practitioner is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life and this is why:

• You need a health practitioner who has YOUR best interests at heart, Not theirs. Finding someone with your interests at heart (not their ego, investment funds or anything else).
• You need to know that THEY know what they are talking about. Think about it, they are giving you advice about the most significant asset you have – your health. You need total reassurance that they are getting it right.

• You are seeing them for their professional opinion supposedly based on a certain skill set, experience and expected exposure to an issue and so that you get to choose an option of care and direction, that is right for you.

• You only have one life – don’t waste your money, your time or anything less than getting yourself the very BEST!

I believe it is extremely hard to find a suitable and up-to-scratch health practitioner today. Let’s face it none of them give you quotes, very few have websites showing you what their personalities are like and some actually don’t appear to care.

I have carefully thought this issue through.

How does one pick a good, reliable and skilled health practitioner?

What you read here in my report is a culmination of being a nurse since 1987, a pharmaceutical representative for 10 years and a naturopath and business owner for 16 years.

This is the reason why I want you to know this information…

A lady came to see me the other day and she was in her 40s. She had some major interventions done including a  mastectomy and various other female surgical procedures.

She was a lovely lady and as she started to tell me her story I felt so apologetic and embarrassed for my fellow health practitioners. Here was a lady with a complicated health history but really, for someone in the know, especially a specialist doctor, this lady had been let down. She had been to over 6 health care professionals, including a few doctors, a naturopath and someone else. I don’t believe any of them had ever arrived at the deep root cause of all her complaints.

You see, her issues, albeit physical, probably had a deep emotional component as she shared with me something that is quite tragic. BUT why had no one else linked the stress of an emotional trauma with her physical symptoms? This lovely person, had been robbed of some of the greatest years of her life, simply because she didn’t have the right practitioner looking after her at the right time. Her physical symptoms needed treating but so did her emotional health.

She had spent thousands of hard earned money trying to find answers.

I don’t want you to fall into the same traps she did.

Find someone that cares, is knowledgeable and always has your best interests at heart.

Here are 5 tips for choosing the BEST practitioner for you and your needs.

1. Training and qualifications

The training and qualifications will depend on what health practitioner that you are looking for. For example if you are after chiropractor you need to find someone that has the appropriate chiropractic training. This will depending on what country you are living in but make sure that person has some formal and recognized training in their area.

If you are unsure of what qualifications is the bare minimum to be working as they are advertising, type into Google the specialty and registration requirement. For example type in chiropractor registration requirements. This will give you an idea of the training that is required by law to be registered in the country that you live in.

Believe it or not, I have come across many people who claim to be something they are not, or have a VERY inferior certificate in the area. This is not good enough if they are going to be your health advisor. You want  only the BEST person with the BEST training.

You need someone who can demonstrate they have:

• Correct training and requirements to be registered

• Registration also means that they are staying up-to-date with ongoing education

• A decent qualification. Tertiary training (university training) isn’t always the pinnacle of qualifications especially in the health industry where many of the professions have historically been taught like a trade. However, you need someone with some proven training record. Experience without academic support for their decisions may not be the BEST thing for you.

HOT TIP

Contact (or Google) the particular registration board for your chosen specialty and ask them for a list of trained people in your area. Alternatively try these resources:

ACNEM for a holistic doctor

ANTA for a registered naturopath

These qualities refer to the manner in which the person conducts themselves around you and how they treat your information and time.

2. Professionalism and discretion

You want at least the following:

• Someone who runs on time or has the courtesy to call you if they are running late.

• Someone who doesn’t start talking about your health and issues until you are in their consulting room.

• OH yes, make sure the room you are discussing your intimate health details is confidential. Discussing private matters at a shop desk doesn’t offer you much discretion.
• Someone who offers security for your file.

• A health care provider who takes adequate notes. As health care providers often we keep notes to jog our memories or to keep a record of related topics or treatments. But notes are more than that. They are an intimate record of things you say and report. You need to know that these notes are not going to be shared with anyone who doesn’t need to see them.

• It is also important to be shown respect. How many times have you felt inadequate or intimidated because you wanted to ask a question? You need someone who welcomes your questions and is prepared to answer them to YOUR satisfaction. Don’t compromise on this one!

3. Experience

Why is experience important? Let’s see… a good example of this is relating to someone other than a health practitioner. How comfortable would you feel knowing that you were boarding a plane where the pilot had duxed his year but had only done 3 flights before? Probably not very confident or comfortable. Find someone with experience.

Why does lack of experience change everything?

• It changes your confidence and belief in that person – confidence is only built on the fact that you know you are NOT a guinea pig and that they person has seen other cases like your before.

• You want someone who recognizes signs and symptoms and can rule out less SEVERE conditions

• You want someone who knows strategies that work and ones that don’t. You don’t want to spend money on someone who is inexperienced so that you can be their training ground and learn their experience at your expense

• Academia and certificates are just that. They are a piece of paper saying the person has fulfilled and met certain educational criteria. IT DOESN”T MEAN they really know what they are doing in the real world, as only EXPERIENCE can teach you the right move, the right words at the right time for the right person.

• FIND SOMEONE WITH SOUND EXPERIENCE

HOT TIP

This is where word of mouth is especially useful.

Ask your friends what their experience was like with a certain practitioner.

Reference check the person with the local pharmacist, or someone who might have done work with them over the years.

Try to avoid someone fresh out of uni. Leave that for other people.

4. Select a specialist

This means to select someone who has a special interest or special qualifications and experience in the area of health that you need. An obvious example here is when you are pregnant; you will be referred to an obstetrician who is a doctor who specializes in the care of a pregnant woman and the unborn child.

You want a specialist in your area of need because this means:

• They will have lots of experience treating people just like you every day!

• They should have experience that often means a short cut to the real cause. Often with years of experience the health practitioner can save you tests, investigations, time and money.

• They should have fairly good expertise in treating your condition. There are very few “unique syndromes”. Of course we all have our own little way of being best healed but the information source; the health practitioner should be able to get it right within the first 1-3 attempts. If this isn’t the case, or you feel they are grasping at straws, find someone else.

Some logical advice here is find out the most specialist and best trained person in the area that you are seeking help for. So if you are after someone to help you with hormone issues try finding the following health practitioners:

• A  gynecologist specializes in female hormone health – you will need a GP referral

• An endocrinologist may assist – you will need a GP referral!

• Naturopath – wonderful for getting the cause behind the cause and the resolution behind the band-aid response that doctors often give

• Acupuncturist specializing in women’s health

• Other healers and practitioners who mention women’s health in their advertising

HOT TIPS

Use these key words in Google to find someone in your area that specializes in hormones

Hormone     treatments     specialist          suburb (that you live in)

5. Rapport and Relationship

This is so important. You are trusting someone with your life and health. You want them to be able to communicate to you in your words and terms. This is one of those qualities that I believe exceptional and high caliber practitioners have.

The success of your outcomes really depends on your with relationship between you and your chosen health practitioner.

You need to feel comfortable giving honest feedback and not feel guilty or disloyal if you have found the suggestions too hard, or simply didn’t work. A good practitioner will never lay blame or play the guilt trip with you. Integrity is a must and egos are not useful for either party.

The intimacy that you will develop with your health practitioner is one of the most special and vulnerable relationships you will have. Pick wisely. Once again, if the person belittles you or makes you feel silly, find someone else.

The fine art of communicating with your practitioner is a must for you so that you can:

• Relax and ask questions without feeling a fool

• Be honest with your feedback.

• Feel special (because you are) and not feel like you are just another number

HOT TIP

Helping people in health matters to be the best they can is a culmination of great skill, experience, respect and mastery in the art of healing. Not everyone has it.

HOW CAN YOU FIND THE BEST HEALTH PRACITITIONER FOR YOU?

Here are Some ideas for Finding your BEST Health Practitioner from BEST to LEAST Reliable Source.

• Word of Mouth

Ask around. Ask people that you know have had a similar health issue. People don’t mind sharing their practitioner if they have had a good experience and I will also guarantee that they will tell you if they have any bad experiences or reservations too.

• Referral from another practitioner

Many practitioners refer to each other. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. I give my clients details of people that I know and trust and have dealt with for years personally and professionally. However not everyone has the same ethics and you don’t want to find yourself being sent to Jo Blogs dodgy brothers down the road. Be aware and do your due diligence with all referrals.

• Health Food Shop

The local HEALTH food store will probably have a good idea of good practitioners in the area. However, I have been surprised sometimes at their lack of interest in the outside world, if the shop is in a BIG shopping centre, or if they have an in-house clinician. It may be worth a try though.

• Pharmacy referrals

These guys deal with doctors in the local area. Occasionally they attend the same conferences and will be able to tell you someone reliable and good in your area. Pharmacist are often busy, but just insist on talking to one and they will be happy to help out in most cases.

• Internet or White Pages searches

Potentially you are now inviting an unknown to take care of your health. Check out their website, do some research. If you can’t find much about them, or maybe your gut feeling is calling out to run away, then don’t go with them. Save your money and time until you find the right person.

• Drive bys

Do you realize how many health practitioner signs you pass in your daily life? Some of these will be excellent practitioners and others not. Stop into their offices and check out their clinics. Maybe they will resonate with you and you will trial their services.

I trust you have found this report useful. If you would like to see me, please contact me via admin@sambeaupatrick.com.

Thank you Sam x