Professionalism
By Leslie M.Wise, D.C.
We frequently see articles in the chiropractic press exhorting us to be professionals. By this, the authors usually mean that we shouldn’t place hokey yellow page ads and that we shouldn’t give free steak knives when a patient signs up for a series of adjustments. The largely unheeded pleas from our tabloids and journals hearken back to the day when professionals didn’t advertise. The Supreme Court blew the lid off that restriction in the early 70s with a decision allowing attorneys to advertise their fees, and all the professions were off to the races. It is now not unusual to see a lawyer dressed in a frog costume on TV commercials, or a plastic surgeon performing breast implants live on camera, both in blatant disregard for pre-70s standards of professionalism.
Many authors who explore the meaning of professionalism list several “elements of professionalism” and designate an occupational group a profession, or not, depending on how well they measure up to these elements. Among the essential factors are these:
- A high degree of generalized and specialized education. This is usually interpreted as a bachelors degree for general education to make one a well-rounded individual, and a graduate degree for the specialized knowledge in a particular narrow field.
- Professional autonomy and self- control. Professions control themselves with a system of admission standards, accreditation, licensure, practice laws and continuing education requirements. It’s tough to get in, moderately tough to stay in, and discipline is meted out in-house.
- Dedication to altruistic service. Professionals are required to focus on service to others, and have a fiduciary responsibility to always put their clients’ well-being above their own financial gain. Lawyer/client privilege and patient confidentiality are taken very seriously
- A system of honorary and monetary rewards. Professionals are generally held in high esteem, as reflected in national Harris and Gallup polls, and have incomes that reflect the esteemed nature of their services.
When we hold the chiropractic profession up to these standards we see that we are almost compliant in educational areas, and nearly compliant in autonomy and self control (Kansas and Virginia still have medical boards controlling chiropractic.) Chiropractors are very service oriented as a rule, and every chiropractor I know does a lot of charity or pro-bono work. Our incomes have been steadily rising to professional levels, and we are almost full-fledged professionals. The one hang-up seems to be in the area of “honors and esteem.” The public perception of chiropractors keeps us hovering somewhere between telemarketers and used car salespersons.
I don’t know what will finally elevate us to 100% professionalism, but in the meantime we can focus on providing the best chiropractic services possible to our patients and putting their well-being high on our list of priorities.