We've Got Clinical Sucess Down To A Science With Our Proven Three Phase System.
Beyond Protocols Co-founder Emily Giver has built an amazing functional genomic nutrition practice over the past 10 years. She has a full calendar and a 6-month waiting list of international clients. This was all done without advertising or social media. Her success is based on one simple premise: help people get better, faster, with fewer adverse reactions and they will refer their friends and family.
Over the years, Emily has honed her client success system down to three phases. Here is a brief overview of how she helps her most complicated clients get better.
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Phase 1: Investigate
This is the phase most educators and practitioners skip over. It's not sexy. It hasn't changed in hundreds of years, maybe thousands, but it's critical nonetheless. Skimping here often leads to problems later on in the healing process.
The first step, of course, is the diagnostic interview. Collecting data is often left to pre-made checklists and forms, but Emily emphasizes intuition and curiosity to find the "Hole In The Patient's Story."
Second is to get aligned with your client or patient. In our eagerness to help people, we often fail to make sure we are both heading in the same direction. Small mismatches in the beginning can lead to big misunderstandings later on.
The last part of phase 1 is to give the client small actions or wins they can achieve to have a sense of accomplishment and begin to form a relationship of trust.
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Step 2: Integrate
This is the "sexy" part of practicing functional medicine. Most seminars, conferences, and trainings focus on one or more aspects of this phase. This is also where most sponsored functional education lives. I don't want to bash free or subsidized education completely. There is a lot of good information out there. It's just limited and comes with an agenda baked in. That's why Beyond Protocols is independent.
And that's why it's so important to order the right tests. Too few and you don't have the information you need. Too many and you are wasting your patient's money and confusing the clinical picture with too many data points.
Once you have the results back from the labs, you need to integrate all the information into a coherent clinical picture. This is a case where the whole can be more than the sum of the parts. For example, genetics can tell you if an OAT result is a permanent area that needs support or temporary, based on their illness. Unfortunately, lab cross referencing is not often taught by the labs themselves. You have to get this insight from experienced practitioners.
The final part of phase 2 is to create a "roadmap" for your client. We call it a roadmap because your protocols need to be individualized based on the client's presentation, goals, and their unique bio-individuality. Presenting a roadmap gives you and your patients and clients a context for where they are, where they are headed, and that goes way beyond "take these pills at this time on this day."
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Step 3: Implement
Phase 3 relies heavily on the art of medicine. Gone are the days when patients obeyed simply because an authority figure "said so." Don't complain too much. You do it too! By presenting your patients and clients with a roadmap, you give them a context for their protocol and an idea of where you would like to lead them on their journey back to health.
And like any journey, unexpected obstacles arise which require you to assess and adjust. If your client is properly prepared with a roadmap, these obstacles will not be a surprise, but an expected part of healing.
The very last phase of a patient's healing journey we like to call "nourishing destiny." This is where your clients and patients are happy and healing. They are eager to send their friends and family to see you and continue to schedule appointments with you at regular intervals to keep on track. In short, if you have done your job, you will have a calendar full of life-long clients.