Reflections on engaging the potentially “difficult” patient

Abstract:

Care providers encounter problems working with patients in many contexts. However, they often may have had a role in creating these problems, which may be within or outside their awareness. This piece presents several ways in which these problems may arise and provides guidance as to how clinicians may best prevent these problems from occurring and how they may best respond to the problems once they occur. It also addresses how care providers can best, at this same time, protect themselves under the constraints of the applicable laws.

Keywords::

• ethics
• law
• patient/doctor relationship
• resistance
• trust

Disclosure

The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private ones of the author/speaker and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of Defense or the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work.