Difficult physician-patient encounters

Consultant physicians encounter patients, and families and carers of patients, who leave us feeling helpless, frustrated, irritated and even angry. There are limited opportunities for trainees and physicians to discuss how to recognize, manage, learn from and prevent these difficult physician–patien...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Internal medicine journal 2010-10, Vol.40 (10), p.682-688
Main Authors: Breen, K. J., Greenberg, P. B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude of Health Personnel
Communication
difficult patients
empathy
Humans
Patient Compliance - psychology
physician-patient relations
Physician-Patient Relations - ethics
Social Behavior
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Summary:Consultant physicians encounter patients, and families and carers of patients, who leave us feeling helpless, frustrated, irritated and even angry. There are limited opportunities for trainees and physicians to discuss how to recognize, manage, learn from and prevent these difficult physician–patient encounters. This paper addresses factors, including physician factors, that may contribute to making encounters difficult, categorizes the types of difficult encounters and provides generic and specific suggestions (based in part on published literature and in part on our personal experience) about prevention and management of many of them.
ISSN:1444-0903
1445-5994
DOI:10.1111/j.1445-5994.2010.02311.x