Effective Explanation For Complete Patient Buy-In

More often than not, your patient won’t be a healthcare professional. Their knowledge of what you are about to explain will be limited. But this is your chance to secure ‘buy-in’ and adherence to your treatment plan.

So, ask yourself… Does your patient really need a university level anatomy lesson? Or will this just scare them off?

Today I’ll share a few key points on the art of effective explanation.

Ultimately, an effective explanation is the person or patient understanding the point you are trying to get across..

In an effective explanation to our patient we are going to sacrifice a little bit of accuracy to help understanding. It is important to remember that we are doing this ethically, at no point are we trying to deceive people. We just keep things very simple so the patient can understand the key points we need them to.

There are a few key points that the patient will always need to understand;

• What the problem is.
• What the solution is – The treatment plan and why that is of value to them.

Understanding the problem is essential. Very often in professional sports, private practice and in the mentorship program we will be working in areas of the body that do not seem related to the symptoms. This is because, using the 80/20 rule, we will be spending 20% of our time tackling the symptoms and 80% addressing the true cause of the problem.

Your effective explanation is key to the patient’s understanding of the whole process. Once they truly understand the problem, the cause and your solution, then it will be easier for them to see the end goal.

An effective explanation early on in their patient timeline will make or break their ‘buy-in’ and adherence to your treatment plan.

Click here for more on the art of an effective explanation and other powerful clinical tools.