A student who just entered clinic this trimester was asking me what he should do when he graduates from school.  Talk about a loaded question.  “How much time do you have?”, I replied.  Seriously, this is a question that you students should all be asking yourselves no matter whether you just started your schooling or you are in clinic.

When you begin school, it is all about class, studying, tests and other academia.  Don’t forget that when you leave school someday, you need to have some sort of plan.  Otherwise you will feel lost and unfocused. Some of you out there may already be the type to write down daily, monthly or yearly goals.  These goals can change as you move through the quarters or trimesters, but you should get in the habit of writing them down nonetheless.

 You need to ask some important questions of yourself to help figure out what you plan to do after you graduate.  These questions are not rocket science, but they are the ones I remember thinking about or ones I wish I had given more thought to while I was in school.  Here they are:

1. Do you enjoy working for someone else and being an employee?

2. Do you want to be your own boss and run your own practice? 

3. Do you see yourself practicing solo or would you like other doctors to be around you?

4. Would you like to be in a multidisciplinary setting? (M.D., P.T., Acupunture, Massage therapy?)

3. When you think of your dream practice, what city or area of the country/world is it located in?

4.  Are their any type of specialties in Chiropractic you may be interested in? (like Neurology, Radiology, Pediatrics, Geriatrics, Extremities, etc.)

5. Are there any segments of the population you want to concentrate on treating? (like atheletes, children, elderly people, etc.)

6. If you could think of your ideal work schedule, what would it be? What days of the week? What time would you start/end? Have you factored in vacations?

 These questions are among the more important ones you should be asking yourself.  In future blogs, I will go into more detail about these questions but for now, I don’t want to influence how you think about them.

It is never too early to start formulating your ideal practice, keeping in mind that your wants could change as you mature in school.  It is amazing how visualizing in your mind your ideal practice setting can cause it to manifest itself after you graduate.

In case you were wondering, I left school in December of 1996 and I was not ready to open my own practice.  I spent four years working as an associate doctor for someone else.  I learned a lot working closely with the two doctors who ran the practice, but it was a trade off.  In retrospect, four years was probably too long for me to work for someone else. 

 I hope this gives you some food for thought.  Any questions? e-mail me, I am here to listen to you and help you as much as I can.

 Kevin M. Wong, D.C.