NextGen members offer their best advice to chiropractic students.
As chiropractic students get ready to graduate and enter the workforce, eager to make their mark in an ever-evolving healthcare world and help patients get well, it’s normal for them to be excited and nervous at the same time. There is nothing wrong with needing a little guidance, and luckily, ACA’s NextGen members are here to help.
Having graduated within the past five years, NextGen members are fairly new to the workforce, and the struggles and successes of chiropractic college are fresh in their memories. Here are the best pieces of advice NextGen members say they received as students:
Network, network, network. Meet everyone you can and be authentic. Forming quality relationships has provided me
with more opportunities than anything else.
-Morgan Price, DC
Find your people. They will be more valuable to you in the first few years of practice
than you could ever imagine.
-Nichole Cavins, DC
No style of adjusting is too difficult, no doctor is too small or short, and no amount of information is too difficult to learn.
Hard work enables us to achieve all our goals if we are truly determined.
-Rebecca Warnecke, DC
Take advantage of the expertise of your clinicians and take as many business classes as you can.
-Sarah Graham, DC
Learn as much as possible. The more exposure you have to different techniques and styles of treatment,
the better idea you’ll have of how you think you want to practice, and the more tools you’ll have at your disposal when you graduate.
-Bryan Kent, DC
Stay hungry and stay active. It’s incredibly easy to fall into a routine, especially with the demanding curriculum we have to go through, and if you aren’t disciplining yourself to be conscious and active, it’s easy to hit that burn out mentality and forget to challenge yourself daily. Sizing up manageable, doable goals (and following through) along the way keeps you stay motivated and not only makes you a better doctor and leader, but consequently elevates your community and campus.
-Maithy Ta, DC
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Now that they have a few years of experience in practice under their belts, NextGen members are eager to share their best advice with chiropractic students. Here is what they want you to know:
Keep showing up! You never know who you will meet and how that will shape your future. It may be a challenge in the moment, but it will pay off in the long run!
-Elizabeth Moos, MS, DC
I can’t stress the importance of knowing your anatomy and being a confident diagnostician. Proprietary techniques will come and go, but as long as your assessment is accurate and you know what your goals of treatment are with good clinical reasoning, you will never pick a “wrong” exercise or treatment route.
-Morgan Price, DC
Please do not settle just because you think you MUST have a job lined up after graduation. It is OKAY to take time to find the right fit for you. Do your research and consider trial periods for associateships. A trial can be as simple as viewing the office as a patient, or as complex as viewing the doctor’s day-to-day routine for a few weeks. Do not hesitate to ask to talk with staff about their experience within the office. Always ask questions—even the uncomfortable ones.
-Nichole Cavins, DC
Do not wait until 7th or 8th trimester to start volunteering. Do not choose a night out with friends every single Friday instead of setting aside some time to prep for your future. Setting yourself up for a better future, whatever that looks like for you, is essential to start doing BEFORE you have every step of the journey laid out in front of you. Your future self will thank you, and the process will be much smoother.
-Rebecca Warnecke, DC
Maintain a chiropractic support system. Staying involved with ACA and maintaining relationships with my core study group from school have been extremely important for me. Reach out to your fellow chiropractors–you’d be so surprised to find out who else is in the same boat! They can help you figure out how to keep being the best doctor you can be while continuing to show up for your patients, your loved ones, and most importantly, yourself!
-Sarah Graham, DC
Learn as much as you can. Take extra classes, take seminars. Keep an open mind.
-Bryan Kent, DC
Get involved. Whether it’s immersing yourself in seminars, advocating within SACA, or volunteering at the acupuncture society, do something that challenges you outside of your comfort zone. It will make you a better doctor. The skills you learn while being involved–the biggest being communication–will only make your life easier after graduation. Whatever it is will break up your routine, keep you from the mundane, challenge you and force you to grow. It will make the restless nights, the hours of studying, and the hundreds of exams worth it. The experiences will open your eyes to perspectives that you would never encounter otherwise. It will make you more intelligent, empathetic, and a better leader and advocate, if not for the profession on the grander scale of politics or titles, but for your patients and their health, and that is absolutely priceless.
-Maithy Ta, DC
Editor’s Note: In the second part of Paving the Way to Practice, NextGen members share what they wish they had learned before going into practice as well as some lesson’s learned since taking the leap.
