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Difficult Patients Challenge Even the Most Experienced Healthcare Professionals

New self-training guide identifies nine skills healthcare professionals must have to handle difficult patients.

(Boonton, NJ, Sep 21, 2009) — Working with patients who are angry or upset can be a real challenge for harried healthcare professionals.

But the time and effort spent training clinical and non-clinical staff in the fine art of handling difficult patients will more than pay off. It could mean the difference between a difficult, dissatisfied former patient and a satisfied, loyal, long-term patient who knows your hospital, medical practice or clinic can be counted on.

In the self-training publication, Guide to Handling Difficult Patients, author Karen Childress identifies nine skills your staff must have to turn around angry or upset patients.

Techniques for calming patients is just one of those skills. "After all," Childress notes, "before you can resolve an issue for a frustrated patient, you must engage them in a way that will calm them down enough to make a rational discussion possible."

To do this, Childress recommends a three step process:

• Let the patient vent. In most cases, patients who are difficult just want to let off some steam. They want to get their dissatisfaction or a perceived slight off their chest and they want someone to listen and acknowledge them. For this reason, your first strategy for dealing with an angry or difficult patient should be to let them vent. Moving too quickly into problem-solving and failing to give the patient a chance to express his or her feelings is likely to backfire. Some patients will blow off steam in fifteen seconds and others will take five minutes. Give them the time they need to work through their frustration.
• Build rapport. While the patient is venting their frustration or telling their story, you can begin to develop a rapport by using phrases like, "That sounds frustrating," "I see," "Go on," or "And then what happened?" When the patient is finished be sure to ask, "Is there anything else I should know about this?" This way you are certain to get all of the details about the cause of their anger or frustration.
• Apologize and agree. After the patient has vented completely, it's time to apologize for their inconvenience and explain why the problem occurred. If you do this before they vent they will not listen to you because they haven't felt heard, and your explanations will only make them angrier. Don't blame anyone, simply apologize. Use statements like, "I understand how upset this situation has made you," or "I'm sorry this happened, but I'm glad you're bringing it to our attention."

Guide to Handling Difficult Patients is one of six self-training guides from the Customer Service Group's Healthcare Division. Additional information on each of the guides is available online at http://www.CustomerServiceGroup.com/healthcare.php.

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