How Professional Doctors Deal with Crazy or Difficult Patients

If you are a professional medical practitioner you are most likely to come across “Difficult Patients Scenario”, more often than not. It doesn’t make any less difficult for a professional physician to handle a patient who seems to lost their independence over emotions, due to anxiety. Often a time such a patient tests your patience as well as compassion. Clenched fists and tighten jaws are some of the signs that you may notice in a patient going through hyper-vigilance or high anxiety. It is important to employ certain tactics to defuse the situation before it gets spiraled up any further.

Below few of the Tips Mentioned that a Professional Doctor could Follow to Handle a Situation Like that

1. Keep Your Cool

 
It is important to understand that the patient is not attacking you, rather acting out of an abnormal situation that they may go through. The reaction is quite definite and is certainly a fight or flight response from their brain. This is a natural reaction of a human brain to react to a situation which is not normal in nature. While you are maintaining your patience, it keeps you in a calm and assertive phase. It not only helps you observe the body language of the patient, but also helps you in planning how to control the situation.

2. Engage Them in Conversation

 
More often than not, they want to be heard. It is essential that you must make an eye contact with them and speak to them by using their name, softly. Chances are; you may come across a patient who is yelling and using foul language. You need to understand that by using negative words and screaming, they do not mean what they are conveying, rather expressing their unresolved emotions which they have lost control over. You would start a conversation with “May I suggest” or “Let me explain”. Or, you could simply ask the patient if they have any ideas such as, “Can you tell me what is it that you need?”. Let the patient realize you understand how they are feeling, or what they are going through. By simply listening to them, you are actually helping them calming down.

3. Empathize With Them

 
The best way to calm an angry patient down, is by being empathetic to them. Let them realize, you understand how they must be feeling. Let the patient know, that you know it is not easy for them to live in a hospital, away from their family. It is important to understand that, being defensive not going to work. You would rather want to approach them with calm and assertiveness and display respect to their pain and situation. Allow them to know that you care and you think of them in their best interest.

4. Do Not Argue

 
Never argue with these types of difficult patients. You may come across a situation where they try to engage into argument. You must know, hospital is not the place where you would entitle to voice your opinion. Instead of engaging into argument, apologize for not getting the attention they need. Tell them their medication will soon be available to them and explain them why their medicines were late. Reassure them, that it will not happen again and that, you will take care of it. Approaching with calm and assertive mind, you are not only helping yourself, but also the patient in disdain and dismay. Reassuring them cools down their anxiety level and it makes you easy to approach them.

5. Boundaries

 
When it comes to a patient who makes unreasonable or endless demands, it is essential to dodge the bullet by telling them that you will come again check them later after 15 minutes. It is important that you are not neglecting them and that you must follow through as you have told them to. However, if a patient seems to be attacking you (which is not normal and does not happen all the time), you must set boundaries with them. It keeps you safe as well as them.

Handling difficult patients is not an easy task at all, it is important to understand the psyche of such patients. It is quite unavoidable to come across such a case, every now and then. Much as it is important for a practitioner to handle a hyper-vigilant patient, it is equally important for a medical practitioner as well to maintain their safety. However, by practicing above mentioned tips you can tackle a situation where a patient starts showing you the signs of anxiety. Hope this helps.