Instead of labeling them, let's find out what's really causing the problem ...

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, ...

HBO's emergency-department drama "The Pitt" has become a smash hit in large part because it shows the deeply human toll that ...

Physicians viewed 17% of patient encounters as difficult, according to a meta-analysis. Patient characteristics associated with perceived difficulty included personality disorders, depression, anxiety ...

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 ...

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on . At least once a week, Emily L. Weis, MD, MS, says she has a challenging consult or patient interaction in her ...

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, ...

Sal was the kind of patient that doctors strive to avoid. But for one medical student, he provided an education in compassion. By Gina Siddiqui Sal was 58 when I was assigned his case. Sal had been ...

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 ...