How do you manage difficult patient encounters in your practice?

Question

And how do you best leverage your staff (MAs, LVNs, PAs, NPs, BSNs) to manage time spent with these types of patients?

Serious answers please.

Answer 1

often it will help to find out what the patient is upset about. i've been able to placate some patients with a simple apology and a statement of sympathy. this technique often works if an otherwise reasonable patient has been waiting a long time.

some patients are just control freaks, and they seem to want to micromanage everything- often the things that they're demanding are so ridiculous, and it's fairly obvious that what they really want is control.it's hard to be a good doctor in this setting. try to be as empathetic as you can, but firmly set ground rules and don't let your patient run the show. in worst case scenario, it's not necessarily a failure on your part if you have to tell patients that you don't feel you can safely care for them and they should seek another doctor.

Answer 2

I really feel the Dr/Nurse setting with the patient needs to change. I am a mother of two young adults and in my 45 years of life, I have been in more hospitals than I can mention. When a patient is sick and they really don't feel good the last thing they need is a Dr or Nurse questioning them or not treating them with the compassion that I personally feel is missing. To better understand how to treat your patient you need to become the patient. For instance I had a Angiogram four years ago, during the procedure I coded. The Dr had no intention of telling my husband and daughter what happened. Until he walked into my room and I put him on the spot! The fact is my husband would have never believed I went through what I did and I would have spent a Life Time explaining what I went through. Some times, there is this arrogance from the Drs to the Nurses that they know more, But until they are in that bed, being told they have a Life and Death Condition, they truly need to step into the Patients Shoes.....My life has changed Drastically because of the decisions Drs have made, some times all they need to do is put themselves into the patients spot and they'll have the very answer to your question....
P/S Thank You to All of those in the Medical Field that truly do care and reach out, I pray the Lord Blesses each of you..For the Others I pray the Lord reveals the Hurt the patient endures, it's always greener on the other side....

Answer 3

You need " tons" of patience and a "indefinite" understanding of the patient's situation. Plus you also need to deal pretty well with the entire staff to have them cooperate in every effort the entire unit is struggling that include handling difficult patient. There are different situations resulting to difficult encounter with the patient and all of those should be anticipated and discussed by the entire unit staff to have coordinated interventions and management aimed at better solution. If the case seem to be too difficult to handle, other releavant personnels should get involved to handle the situation.

Answer 4

The first thing I do is ask them if they are angry at me directly. 95% of the time, the answer is no. My next question is to then ask them to stop treating my like I just shot their new puppy (pretty much in those words). While trying to help them, if I am interrupted, I say; "You know, we can dance together, but we damn sure can't talk together. Let me say what I need to and then if you have anything to add we can do it when I'm done".

If they are mad at me, well I have to take that one patient at a time.

Answer 5

I hate to fess up on this Dr. Q but I have been one of these patients before I became a Christian.I still struggle with it at times and I feel so sorry for your staff.I am the mean dad who wants the best for jr..I have 8 children and it seems all but two were accident prone.This isn't very fair to ask of you folks but it was usually a kind answer to my rude question that turned me around.God bless you all for helping us poor sick folks.

PS. Christians, when praying don't forget to remember these good people who take such good care of us, and those that we love.