Strategies to Manage Difficult Patient Encounters

Strategies to Manage Difficult Patient Encounters

Patients may have a host of complications such as mental health issues, mood disorders, depression, anxiety which can make the office encounter a challenge. Here are some strategies to help physicians manage difficult visits.

MTS Transcription Services United States

Medical transcription companies play a crucial role in ensuring timely and accurate patient encounter documentation to help health care providers focus on care. However, not all patient encounters may go smoothly. Generally, neither the patient nor the provider wants to cause a difficult situation but misunderstandings on the part of both groups, can lead to challenging interactions. Both patient factors and physician factors can contribute to a difficult patient encounter. The office visit can become difficult to handle when patients are angry, defensive, or frightened, resistant, manipulative, or display signs of comorbid anxiety, depression and personality disorders. On the other hand, physician factors such as stress, fatigue, burnout, dogmatism, and lack of empathy can contribute to difficult encounters with patients.

Physician-Patient Interaction -- Examples of Difficult Scenarios Today’s patient has high expectations of the healthcare system and their physician. Here are some instances of difficult physician-patient scenarios: -

Patients become anxious, worried, and hopeless about their health if their prognosis cannot be

determined with

precision or if their medical condition appears

irresolvable.

-

A patient may have done some internet research about his/her ailment and demand certain investigations/treatments.

-

Patients can get angry and frustrated if their undiagnosed symptoms are affecting quality of life or if they feel that they are not being listened to.

-

The situation can be challenging if the patient does not follow the treatment protocol, experiences deteriorating health, and continues to attend consultations.

-

Patients with depressive or anxiety disorders can make the encounter complex to manage.

-

Language barriers, cross-cultural issues and the need to break bad news can also make encounters with the patient challenging.

-

Physicians' own attitudes and behaviors may also add to difficult encounters with patients. A burned-out physician can impair communication, lead to medical errors, and affect care.

-

Long waiting times, repeated unwarranted cancellations, or delays to previous appointments or investigations can also lead to difficult encounters.

www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com

(800) 670 2809

Ways to Manage Difficult Patient Encounters Time spent managing challenging patients can deplete a practice’s resources. Difficult patients can decrease productivity, waste staff time, reduce the time to see other patients, and increase provider burnout. Here are some strategies that can help physicians deal with problematic encounters and turn them into productive ones: 

Exercise self-control: Practice remaining calm when dealing with difficult patients.

The patient is most likely overcome by anxiety about his/her medical problem.

Remaini ng cal m will allow you to calm diffi cul t patients and address their concerns.



Calm the patient and show empathy: A recent www.renalandurologynews article suggests that providers should communicate in a way to calm the patient. Speak softly and without a judgmental attitude. Showing empathy will show them that you understand their feelings.



Listen: Listening to your patients will show that you respect them. Giving patients the time and space to express their psychological and emotional needs will also help you understand why they are distressed. Resist the impulse to interrupt. Listening to the patient can defuse a tense situation. Hear out their disagreements and their views on treatment they need. This will make them feel more comfortable with you, which in turn, will make them more likely to adhere to your treatment plan and preventative care protocols. If the patient seems fearful about a diagnosis or treatment, encourage the patient to talk about it, and see whether the fear is justified. This may help you offer advice that can help the patient to deal with it more constructively. If the concern is non-compliance with recommendations regarding lifestyle changes and medicines, work with the patient to find solutions to the situations that prevent compliance.



Avoid a defensive attitude: A sincere apology can help calm an angry patient. For example, if a patient who is in pain had to wait a long time to see the physician, anger and frustration may build up and erupt. Instead of reacting angrily, offer a sincere apology explaining why you were late and say that you will take alternative measures to handle such situations better in future. For instance, you can tell your staff to reschedule your patients if you are running late and inform the distraught patient about this change.



Find extended assistance for the patient: If you feel that the patient needs extended support to deal with their anger, emotional breakdowns or other difficulties, referring the patient to a behavioral therapist or psychologist may help. Make sure you handle such referrals sensitively so that the patient does not feel abandoned by you.

www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com

(800) 670 2809



Set limits: One strategy to handle di fficul t patients who make endless or unreasonable demands i s to set boundaries. I f the patient is screami ng, leave the room, saying something like, “We are givi ng you some ti me to cal m down and will conti nue to tal k to you once you have.”



Have a third party present to minimize litigation risks: Having a third party present during visits with known difficult patient is a practical option to minimize complaints and litigation risks. In such situations, it is important to document behavior as well as a verbatim transcript of the patient’s statements.



Focus on safety if the situation gets out of hand: The Renal and Urology News report says that providers should focus on safety if the patient becomes violent or uses foul language. The best solution in this case would be to have security personnel deal with the situation.

Deal with System-related Factors Contributing to Challenging Interactions According to an article published in the journal Breathe, an overstretched system, lack of resources and lack of time, and inadequate documentation systems can also contribute to challenging physician-patient interactions. Providers who partner with a reliable medical transcription company can address these challenges and reduce their impact on productivity and communication with difficult patients.

www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com

(800) 670 2809