When podiatrists join my Facebook group, the Podiatry Business Owners Club, I ask them to share one of their biggest frustrations and to my surprise lack of respect from patients was a common frustration shared.
The reason it surprised me was that I've never felt a lack of respect from my patients.
When a patient would visit my podiatry business, and they were in pain, and I had the skill and knowledge to reduce or remove their pain, I felt nothing but a high level of respect from them.
Also, if an elderly patient required general footcare because they could not look after their feet themselves and had no family close by, once again, I felt nothing but respect from the patient.
Who's Fault Is It?
I'm not saying I've never treated a patient that did not say they were surprised that I went to university to 'look at feet all day', but is that being disrespectful to me or it is just a lack of understanding for what we do as health professionals.
Is it the patients' fault, associations fault, or the fault of the individual podiatrist? Well, I think it's the podiatrists' fault.
Market Yourself
I've had long-term MSK patients go elsewhere for nail surgery because they were unaware I did nail surgery. Once again, who's fault was that? It was my fault.
If you want patients to respect you, you need to let them know all that you can do for them. You need to market yourself and the services you offer and believe me, they will be impressed.
SIDE NOTE: If you are shit at marketing ask for help, and that doesn't mean going to an SEO company and flushing thousands of dollars down the toilet. Instead, email me or contact another podiatrist you know and trust.
Do You Respect What You Do?
On Episode 099 of the Podiatry Legends Podcast with Dr Richard Chasen, Be More Than Just A Pod, we talked a lot about respect from patients, and also respect from each other in the podiatry profession.
In Australia, we're legally allowed to use the title Dr; however, some podiatrists say we shouldn't be using the title because...(and they will continue to defend this opinion with some form of BS), and end with the word WANKER.
As Dr Richard Chasen said "There are only three health professionals that are allowed to perform surgery on people, doctors, dentists and podiatrists. That's pretty cool".
On an upcoming podcast with Nicola O'Brian (Ep 105 - not yet released), we talk about her initial feelings about Aesthetic Foot Care and Cosmetic Podiatry, and how she felt about this area of podiatry.
The services and treatment we provide are primarily based on how we feel about ourselves and how others are perceiving us.
You Need A Vision
If you worry about what other people think (patients, colleagues, and other health professionals) more than you worry about your vision for the future, and where you see yourself in the profession in the next five, ten, and twenty years, you're going to be in for a long bumpy ride.
If you don't respect what you do, why should anyone else?
When you look at the definition of respect, it says it's a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities and achievements.
So all you need to do to gain respect is to work on your abilities continually (learn new skills), qualities (get better), and the achievements will come your way.
If you have any questions about this blog article, please email me at and if you want to learn more about the next 12-Week Podiatry Business Reboot or One-On-One Coaching just follow the links.
