Patient Education Resources for Hormone Doctors, Nurse Practitioners

I Can Help You With Patient Education

As a hormone doctor or nurse practitioner, my patient education resources can save time and frustration in your functional medicine practice. I can help you calm your patients' fears. My tools reduce overwhelm for your patients, your staff . . . and yourself!

Hormone Doctors (and Nurse Practitioners)

When I talk about hormone doctors, I'm specifically addressing providers (MDs, NPs, and PAs) who believe in hormone optimization.

This is a concept that's a little different than "hormone balancing."

It's also different than the idea of "the lowest possible dose of hormones for the shortest amount of time."

The hormone doctors and nurse practitioners I work with are interested in helping their patients with symptoms, for sure.

They'd love to help . . .

Relieving all those symptoms is important to the hormone doctors I work with.

Optimal Hormones

Even more important though is the evidence. Optimal hormone levels are one of the major keys to long-term health and wellness. If you've examined the evidence closely, you know.

The functional medicine practices I work with are committed to the idea that optimal hormones can eliminate symptoms. But they know that optimal hormones protect against long-term health risks.

Patient Education Resources

As a hormone pharmacist, I provide easy-to-understand patient education resources to help hormone doctors and nurse practitioners. My YouTube channel provides (mostly patients) with free information about all sorts of hormone-related concerns. I also provide patient education resources (mostly for hormone doctors and nurse practitioners) through my Simple Hormones subscription service.

Simple Hormones Subscription

Simple Hormones is a digital patient education subscription service.

This program helps functional medicine practices like yours get over the most common barriers to patient education.

I've surveyed hormone doctors over the past several years and discovered the 4 biggest challenges for hormone providers when it comes to educating patients:

Patient education resources like Simple Hormones can help with all of these patient education challenges.

Barrier 1: Patient Fears

The first challenge to patient education is fear. Patients are afraid of hormones.

In spite of that, digital patient education resources can relieve your patients' fears.

I've surveyed thousands of patients, especially women in menopause. One of the biggest challenges that comes up over and over again for patients is that they're . . .

My patient education resources emphasize hormone levels that aren't too high or too low but are just right. That's because patients often don't understand the idea that just right hormone levels help them eliminate all their symptoms and reduce their risks at the same time.

I spend a lot of time with women in menopause, for example, helping them recognize the impact of the Women's Health Initiative. The WHI was not the last word on hormones. Recent studies show that the right hormones, given the right way, at the right time, reduce their risks.

The right hormone levels can even reduce their risk for breast cancer, the elephant in the room.

I'm a firm believer that the right kind of patient education can help patients take a step back from their emotional responses about hormones. Maybe what they've read on the internet or in a magazine about hormones isn't all there is to know.

Transformation Not Transfer of Information

I've also learned, the hard way, that patient education isn't about a transfer of information. What that means is that it's more about guiding patients on a journey of transformation. My goal is to help patients feel empowered to take control of their own health. To that end, I want to encourage patients to move from a place of fear to a place of confidence.

Empathy

In addition to trust, another major factor in relieving patient fears is empathy. That's something I've really learned the hard way.

I can't just blurt out all the reasons why patients "shouldn't be afraid."

A person who has fear is acting from a visceral place. Because of this, their mind isn't ready to receive a bunch of information that helps them approach things rationally.

Before a person can receive information that counters their misconceptions, they've got to feel heard. That's where empathy comes in.

I've got to let you know that I care about your symptoms.

Your concerns are valid and I don't want to dismiss them. Fear doesn't come out of nowhere. You're not alone in feeling this way.

There are times when fear makes perfect sense.

But . . . I want to tell you a few things that might help you have less fear . . .

Barrier 2: Long-Term Risks

The second challenge for patient education is patients not understanding their own long-term risks. 

As a provider, you know that menopause is more than just hot flashes.

Insulin resistance is about more than not being able to lose weight.

Low testosterone goes far beyond fatigue and erectile dysfunction.

PCOS doesn't only cause unwanted hair growth, weight gain, and missed periods.

In spite of these facts, one of the struggles hormone doctors have with patient education is the lack of understanding about long-term health risks.

My patient education resources emphasize the double-edged sword of hormone optimization. Getting ALL your hormone levels optimized eliminates symptoms and reduces health risks at the same time.

Barrier 3: Time

The third barrier to patient education that's come up in my surveys of hormone providers is time.

Getting patients up to speed about optimal hormones involves changing patients' understanding.

It requires them to absorb a large volume of information. Conveying a large volume of information in an office visit might be overwhelming can be overwhelming.

Imagine a woman in menopause coming for an initial consultation. She's nervous, maybe even a bit afraid of hormones because . . . breast cancer, of course.

You want to take the time to get to know her. It takes time to find out what her specific concerns or fears or complaints are.

Then there's more time to explain all the reasons why hormone optimization is the best thing for her symptoms and her long-term risks.

Surveys show that primary care providers get maybe 15-20 minutes with each patient. The average in some studies was 13-16 minutes.

That's not a lot of time to spend with a patient - especially a patient who's nervous about saying "Yes!"

"But I Spend 1 Hour With Each Patient"

It's possible that you've developed your functional medicine practice where you can spend 35 to 45 minutes, maybe even an hour with each patient.

Even in that case though . . . do you really want to spend that time relaying a lot of important information about:

Patient Resources Save You Time

Patient education resources like Simple Hormones decrease the quantity of time it takes to educate patients. TIn addition, they increase the quality of the time you get to spend with your patients.

Simple Hormones is all about digital courses that patients can go through on their own time, not yours.

That means you'll be able to spend a lot more of your office visit connecting with your patient on a deeper level. You can get down to their most personal, pressing concerns. You'll be freed to get past information and move toward transformation.

One of my subscribers, physicians assistant Charlie Wispert in Augusta Georgia, says that Simple Hormones saves him one full hour with each new patient.

Imagine what you could do with one extra hour for every new patient?

Questions You Hear Over and Over Again

Add to that time the questions.

How many times have you or your staff heard the same question over and over and over again? Each new patient asks the same questions because they all have basically the same general concerns.

Patients can watch Simple Hormones on their own time. It addresses many of the most commonly repeated questions you hear.

What if patients could rewind and watch the answer again? How much time would that save you?

Barrier 4: Clear, Concise Patient Teaching Materials

The fourth patient education challenge hormone doctors face is finding clear, concise materials to help you teach patients.

You could develop your own video teaching materials. Some providers do and that's great.

But most hormone optimization practitioners just don't have the time to build a hormone curriculum. You may not know where to start. Are you comfortable on camera? Not every provider is. How do you go about creating videos, editing them, and finding out how to present them?

It would be understandable if you struggled with all the technology that would be required.

Creating your own videos is a great idea. But for most hormone doctors, it's just not worth all the time and effort and learning curve it would take to get there.

Simple Hormones offers ready-to-use medical practice resources. No video editing required.

You can subscribe to my patient education programs and send patients through your patient education portal within a day or two.

Barrier 5: Pushback from Other Providers

The fifth (and biggest) challenge hormone doctors and nurse practitioners have with patient education is pushback. By that I mean criticism or confrontation from from colleagues. 

If you're a hormone optimization provider, you've probably done a deep-dive into the evidence. You understand the impact optimal hormones have on long-term risk. You've bought the idea that the right hormone levels are one of the major keys to health and wellness.

Primary care physicians, OB/GYNs, and endocrinologists may have a different viewpoint about hormones. Not every provider has evaluated the evidence in the medical literature. Because of that, they may not have come to the same conclusions that you have. 

Physicians believe estradiol and progesterone will give your mutual patient breast cancer. They may be concerned about heart attacks in women on HRT. Providers worry about estradiol causing blood clots. Colleagues believe testosterone will cause blood clots for your male patients.

Other physicians might take you to task for insisting that patients get T3 AND T4 for thyroid levels that are less than optimal. Colleagues may think T4 is the only necessary treatment for low thyroid. That provider sees a patient's T4 level is within "normal" ranges and wonders why you would treat them with thyroid replacement at all.

They may freak out about low TSH levels.

Patient education resources like Simple Hormones can't eliminate pushback from other, well-meaning providers.

Although that's true, these patient education videos can help patients truly "get" what you're trying to do. If patients understand hormone optimization, maybe they'll be less likely to "tattle" on you to their other doctor.

Patient Education That Builds Trust

Along the same lines, building patient trust is one of my most important objectives. My patient resources are designed to encourage patients to trust you as their hormone practitioner.

I'm hoping that patients clearly understand the benefits of optimal hormones. I'd love to see more patients experience the life-changing power of hormone optimization. It would make me feel satisfied to see more patients experience freedom from symptoms and lower health risks.

Everything I teach has the same underlying theme. Whether it's my YouTube videos or my subscription patient education resources. "Trust a hormone optimization specialist."

Patient Education That Leads to Referrals

Because I'm encouraging patients to trust you, I'm also able to get you referrals.

My YouTube channel has been consistently driving traffic from YouTube to my website. I've created a referral system on my site for patients to get help with their hormones.

Over the past 10 years, I've met a lot of you, especially at medical conferences. I've developed some great relationships and even friendships with physicians, PAs, and nurse practitioners. We're all passionate about helping patients experience that life-changing power of hormone optimization.

Over the past several weeks, I've gotten well over 100 patient requests for a hormone doctor or nurse practitioner. Simple Hormones program subscribers are all over the US and some in other countries. Because I have these relationships, I'm happy to be able to share them with patients in need.

I tell patients that I can't guarantee I know an integrative medicine practitioner in their town. But I'll give it my best shot.

Get More Patients

I'd love to see if I can't help you get more patients to your hormone optimization practice.

If you're interested in my subscription patient education resources, click this link. I'll tell you all the details about how you can save time and frustration in patient education with these targeted, unique tools.

If you're not ready for a subscription, that's OK. I still would love to get you on my provider database. That will make it easier for me to get your information to patients who need your help. Click this link to get started with my Hormone Provider Database.