Editor's note: This article was written while Dr. Necela was a student at Life Chiropractic College West.
Listen. The sweet sounds of success and the unsettling clatter of fear both ring loudly at chiropractic schools around the world. Hear it? Students in conversation all around you are revealing their innermost thoughts out loud.
One student boasts of the promise of the future. She knows a DC who paid back his loans in two years and is seeing 300 patients a week after only three years in practice. Jobs are abundant for associates, and she heard they are making $77,000 on the average. "Alternative medicine" - with chiropractic at the forefront - is experiencing astronomical growth. The public's demand for chiropractic is so great that major insurers and HMOs are being forced to provide chiropractic coverage; those without insurance are willing to pay cash for your services. Research, both from the chiropractic and medical profession, is validating chiropractic's efficacy, and the media is conveying this information with an unprecedented amount of pro-chiropractic coverage.
To this student, there has never been a better time to be in chiropractic school. More DCs will be needed to serve the massive worldwide demand for chiropractic. The hardest part about being a chiropractor is just getting through school. She is ecstatic, energetic and eager to practice.
The other student laments the struggle that awaits him upon graduation. He heard from some source somewhere that 20% of grads leave chiropractic after five years. He read that 50% of new grads default on their loans. From teachers, field doctors, insurance companies and news headlines, he hears terrifying accounts of the lack of ability to survive and thrive in chiropractic today.
Managed care has taken the fun out of practice and destroyed health care. The heyday of the '80s is over; revenues are down, paperwork is up. The media and MDs still attack chiropractic, and fierce competition on all fronts is putting the squeeze on DCs in practice. The schools are pumping out more grads than the market can support, and students are duped into believing that they can possibly pay back their hefty loans in this lifetime. A doctor he knows confirms that the schools unleash you unprepared upon an unforgiving world, where the possibility of paying back such huge student loans and making a decent living is becoming increasingly rare.
In today's marketplace, only the strongest will survive. He feels dizzy, disillusioned and depressed.
These conversations are not made up. Despite the fact that some of the figures may be incorrect or misleading, such talks are being held daily in probably every school around the world. Consequently, as students, we may feel that we are battling the hordes of conflicting information thrown our way. So which way is up?
In his book The Jungle is Neutral, British Lt. Col. F. Spencer Chapman describes how his unit was driven into the jungles of Malaysia by the occupying Japanese forces during WWII. For the next three years, he learned to live in the jungle while working with local guerrillas to fight the Japanese. Of his original unit, only the officers survived.
Survival in the jungle, it turned out, was largely dependent on the psychological state of mind of the men. For some soldiers, the jungle was an overwhelming and fearful environment, a horrific place full of poisonous snakes, plants and insects, dangerous animals and savage natives; others came to see the dense jungle growth as providing safety from the Japanese, while providing shelter, food and water - all the necessities to allow the men to pursue guerilla warfare against the enemy.
Chapman's conclusion was that the jungle was neutral. The jungle was what it was. How the men reacted to their environment and how they learned to use the resources of the jungle to their benefit were what counted.
The chiropractic jungle is neutral. Acknowledge that there are no guarantees of success or failure. The question then becomes, "What can I do to help myself succeed while still in school?" Do you have any notion of how to run a business? Do you know how to run a cash or insurance-based practice? Do you have experience working in a chiropractic office? Are you confident in your clinical skills? Can you explain chiropractic to patients in accurate but understandable terms?
Instead of fearing what lurks in the jungle of the real world, students need to focus on their problem areas and look for solutions prior to graduation. These problems won't be answered for you. It will require additional study, talking to successful doctors, and getting experience in a chiropractic office. The internet, library and the local community possess a wealth of information if you seek it out.
Ultimately, you will determine your chiropractic success or failure. It's a jungle out there, but it's a neutral one!
Dr. Tom Necela maintains a private practice in Washington state. He is also the founder of The Strategic Chiropractor, a consulting firm for chiropractors. Dr. Necela can be contacted with questions or comments via his Web site, www.strategicdc.com.