The MD Lecture Meeting

The MD Lecture Meeting

Lead with the listed research articles

There is specific research that is optimal for a good in-office presentation.  Keep in mind that there are 3 types of meetings/presentations at the MD office.  The first is the most causal and merely occurs during lunch while you sit around the table and talk to the MD and his/her staff.  Many times the MD and his/her staff will filter in and out of the room and your time with each will be short.  In this case, most MDs will talk with you while they are eating.  Once they are done with lunch, they will move on to their office or patients. Being effective in this situation takes some practice and the ability to control the conversation.  (I  spend my time using this one and the third one.)

The second type of presentation will have you presenting to an audience of MDs and staff.  The trick here is the same as the causal lunch and that is to get the MDs to engage in some dialog with you.  This is generally done in the office and is more formal than the casual lunch, but less formal than the third type of presentation.   

The third type of presentation is a formal CME (continuing medical education) presentation.  This is the most formal of all and carries the most respect.  The MD Lecture Program (a division of the MD Relationship Program) has the entire process streamlined and prepared for you.  It includes the presentation and working with you one on one to get the CME credits approved.  This is turn-key and is the ONLYprogram in the chiropractic profession that positions DCs to teach MDs with programs that can be approved for CME.  If you are interested, please call me directly and we can talk in more detail. 

Regardless of how you are presenting, listed below are the article citations and the reference points to use when talking to MDs.  This will help you to build MD Relationships and generate more new patients than ever before.  These articles are not the only articles that will be effective, but they are a great start as you educate yourself on working with MDs.

Bishop, P. B., Quon, J. A., Fisher, C. G., & Dvorak, M. F. (2010). The chiropractic hospital-based interventions research outcomes (CHIRO) study: A randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of clinical practice guidelines in the medical and chiropractic management of patients with acute mechanical low back pain.  The Spine Journal, 10 (12), 1055–1064.

(Under patient sample in the abstract on the first page) Exclusion criteria included ‘‘red flag’’ conditions and comorbidities contraindicating chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (CSMT).

(In the second column, bottom of the first paragraph, on page two) Patients were excluded if they had signs of a spinal ‘‘red flag’’ condition (eg, cauda equina syndrome, fracture, malignancy, systemic signs of infection, and active inflammatory process), any spinal nerve root irritation or deficit, or were pregnant. Patients were also excluded if they had persisting pain in any other areas of their spine (eg, chronic neck pain), had previous spinal surgery, or were involved in a third-party insurance claim (workers compensation or other personal injury insurer).

(Page 1058, bottom of the second column) At the primary follow-up point of 16 weeks, 78% of patients in the UC group were still taking narcotic analgesic medications on either a daily or as needed basis. Only 6% of patients in the UC group had received chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy.

Aspegren, D., Enebo, B. A., Miller, M., White, L., Akuthota, V., Hyde, T. E., & Cox, J.M. (2009).  Functional scores and subjective responses of injured workers with back or neck pain treated with chiropractic care in an integrative program: A retrospective analysis of 100 cases. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 32(9), 765-771.

(Page 768, bottom of the first column, make sure that you discuss the misconceptions of “natural history” of lower back pain and that conventional wisdom is inaccurate.)  This correlates with the Natural History of Back Pain article.

(Page 769, second column, under adverse reactions, highlight the last sentence, “Other than soreness, no serious complications were reported with our study.”) That helps to address the safety issue.

(Page 770, highlight the conclusion and stress integration) That is critical to helping them to understand that spinal complaints do not resolve on their own and the team approach is the best way to watch over these patients and these conditions.

Tamcan, O., Mannion, A. F., Eisenring, C., Horisberger, B., Elfering, A., & Müller, U. (2010). The course of chronic and recurrent low back pain in the general population. Pain, 150(3), 451–457.

(Page 451, second column, bottom) To date, no population-based study has prospectively analyzed LBP individuals using short term follow-up intervals <1 month to give a close and descriptive picture of the LBP history.

(Page 456, first column, top) Despite there being numerous articles dealing with the natural history of LBP, the literature describing and characterizing LBP is actually quite scarce.

(Page 456, second column, third paragraph) Many studies define ‘‘chronic” LBP as that which persists longer than 3 months [15,24]. However, studies such as the present one and that of Dunn et al. [3] suggest that this definition of chronic pain may be too simplistic.

Leading as an educator, not as a doctor looking for patients, is critical.  Position yourself as an expert on conservative spine care and a talented diagnostician.  This will get you respected and noticed.  One of the most IMPORTANT points that I can stress in any of these situations is to stress diagnosis and familiarity with the research, NOT technique.  Technique does not matter to the MD; your ability to handle patients does.  Lead with diagnosis and win.  A discussion with an MD based on diagnosis is a black and white conversation. Technique conversations are an endless loop of what works and what doesn’t…It can go on and on, wasting the time that you need to create a relationship with the MD.  Keep focused on why you are an EXPERT.

REMEMBER:  One of the most IMPORTANT points that I can stress in any of these situations is to stress diagnosis and familiarity with the research, NOT technique.