Guaranteeing your patients’ results

A mentor of mine mentioned a concept that completely shifted my perspective and approach to my coaching. I wanted to share it with you because I think it's helpful to us as healthcare professionals too.

So this is the question: how would you show up as a clinician if you guaranteed your patients 100% results?

If you guaranteed that your patients have whatever outcomes you focus on in your practice: less (or no) pain, improved function, improvements in their overall health, better sleep etc.

Now, the first thing I just want to make SUPER clear is that this isn't about actually guaranteeing this to your patients. This is not something you would say to them or advertise publicly.

It's using the concept as a thought experiment to consider: if that was the case, what would be different about YOU?

How would you show up differently?

What would you focus your learning & skill development on?

What changes would you make to the way that you practice?

How would you measure these outcomes differently - or maybe for the first time?

What would you believe about yourself as a clinician and the impact of the work you do?

The other distinction that's important to make here is that we're talking about results, rather than satisfaction. As clinicians (often with people-pleasing & perfectionistic tendencies) we can become very concerned with doing what the patient likes and expects, or making sure we don't look "less than" when we're caught not knowing something.

And this is not to say that patient satisfaction is not important, it's just to focus more on them getting what they came for than molding to what would keep them "pleased" or protecting yourself from their judgements.

And lastly, notice what kinds of thoughts and emotions this idea of guaranteeing results brings up for you.

Does it make you excited and compelled, or does it feel overwhelming and exhausting?

Does it feel like a welcome challenge or unwanted pressure?

Does your brain want to think of alllll the things you CAN'T control and the reasons why you can't guarantee results? Or does it orientate towards solutions and what you CAN control or influence?

Like I always say to my clients, none of this information is good or bad - it's all just helpful data.

So, I'd love to know: what comes up for YOU when you think about guaranteeing your patients' results? What would change about the way YOU show up?