The chart note was brief: "Difficult patient. Frequent visits. Demands unnecessary tests." Before I met the patient, I already knew how the story was supposed to go. Every physician has encountered ...

When Elaine Benes on Seinfeld discovers she was labeled as a “difficult patient” in her medical chart, hilarity ensues when she tries to correct the record—and makes matters worse. But in real life, ...

A systematic review of 45 studies found that physicians perceive one in six patient visits in non-psychiatric clinics as "difficult," and these encounters are more likely to involve patients with ...

"Patients do not want to be shielded from difficult treatment decisions," says Associate Professor Jannicke Rabben at Norway's University of Agder (UiA). "Even patients who say that the doctor knows ...

Prevalence of difficult encounters among clinic patients was 0.17; characteristics that increased difficulty included depression, chronic pain. HealthDay News — Providers perceive 17% of clinic ...

Some patients continually cancel their appointments, ignore your medical directions, treat your staff rudely, or send you harassing emails. Do you have to tolerate their behavior? No, these are all ...

Forty years ago, I had my most angry professional moment. It happened at a weekly meeting that included all our faculty, staff, and trainees—about 200 people. A young and arrogant, not very bright, ...

His visits to emergency departments always followed the same pattern. He would arrive in the afternoon complaining of chest pain. A bypass scar and a long-standing abnormal ECG pointed toward coronary ...