Conflict is a frequent workplace phenomenon, and healthcare is no exception.

Conflict is a frequent workplace phenomenon, and healthcare is no exception. The negative repercussions that it renders upon the overall health of the practice, however, are profound. These include dysfunctional teamwork, decreased patient satisfaction, and increased employee turnover. Research demonstrates that with adequate training in conflict management, healthcare staff can potentially overcome these negative consequences. Practical conflict resolution skills and strategies can help address a disruptive physician, thereby improving productivity and enhancing patient satisfaction.

Of the potential list of conflicts that may arise in a healthcare organization, the most prominent are those resulting from challenging patient encounters. Practices often have to face situations that lead to hard feelings such as denying a request of non-warranted medications, refusing to sign an application for a prolonged leave from work, and declining to order expensive but unnecessary lab tests.

Experts contend that effective communication is the ultimate solution to managing such patient encounters. Such a strategic maneuver can curtail escalating adverse feelings, anger, and poor patient outcomes.

Diffuse the Situation

The primary reason why physician-patient conflict occurs is when they disagree on a certain point, and the patient consequentially feels vulnerable and distressed. In such cases, patients are often unformattable and fearful, and the physicians, therefore, need to work through that. A few tips might become handy in diffusing such as situation. Foremostly, remain professional. Address the patient respectfully and don’t respond emotionally. Next, be empathetic and considerate, but don’t jump to conclusions. Reflect some compassion and explain the evidence-based practice guidelines that you follow. Finally, impart the necessary information and provide support to the patient to better understand the situation.

Explain

More than often, patients act angry out of curiosity for thorough explanations. For instance, when you prescribe particular medication, they might spontaneously complain that they have already tried, but the drug didn’t seem to work. Or, they might suggest an alternative medicine that appears to be a better option than the one you are recommending. In that case, you have to go back to the basics and explain. It can be time-consuming and exhausting, especially with counter-arguments, but you’ve got to stay optimistic.

Call Out the Angry Patient

Sometimes patients are too nasty and don’t get along with anyone. In such a situation, you might need to call a spade a spade. Open up with them for a frank discussion and tell them what effort they need to put in to continue a healthy relationship with their provider. It is not at all easy because they might not open up during the first encounter. But follow-up conversations can help console them to the point that they agree that they are too demanding.

Train Your Staff

You must train your staff to stay calm and patient under all circumstances. Offer occasional talks to keep the staff morale high and help them fight the pressures of demanding patients. It is one of the most effective strategies to deflate the situation. More than often, the staff feels much better just be venting out to each other. But it would help if you encouraged them to do so in private so they can maintain their happy face to the public.

Seek Time Out

Unfortunately, sometimes the physician-patient conversations end up in a fury, and it, therefore, remains impossible to maintain dialogue civilly. In such instances, it is best that the physician abandons this patient and moves onto seeing the next. This will give the troubled patient a few moments to gather his thoughts and calm down a bit before resuming the visit. More importantly, you must acknowledge their anger and stress to develop a trusting, long-term relationship.

Remove Patient from Your Practice

If everything else fails, it might be best to remove the patient from your practice’s list. But there is a proper mechanism to do so:

• The physician must issue a written termination letter to the patient, which should precisely mention the termination date and the reason for termination.
• The letter must also include a list of alternative healthcare providers and referral to the patient’s insurance network.
• The physician must offer to send a copy of the patient’s medical records to the patient’s new doctor.
• Finally, communicate the termination to your entire staff to avoid any future encounter with the same patient.

Managing conflict with difficult patients can be potentially challenging. But working your way out through effective conflict resolution maneuvers can help establish a long-term and healthy patient-provider relationship.