Health ministry of republic of moldova the university of medicine and pharmacy nicolae testemiţanu

“A universal pain” pacient. 
“These patients do take a lot of time 
and energy and we can end up exacerbating the whole thing by our 
response,” The first step, says Shakaib Rehman, associate professor of 
medicine at Medical University of South Carolina, is to recognize that 
it’s not necessarily the patient who is difficult; rather, the situation 
makes them so. A large number of patients who express anger, for 
example, have not been given the right information at the right time. 
“Most experienced physicians realize that difficult patients are not the 

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same as say, someone with diabetes or hypertension,” says Rehman, 
who delivers workshops on doctor-patient communication. “You 
yourself can have a difficult conversation with the phone company, and 
suddenly, it’s you who are difficult.” 
The fearful patient. 
The underlying cause of your patient’s irksome 
behavior may not in fact be what you think. Often, for example, it’s fear, 
which can drive an otherwise reasonable person to become overly 
emotional, quick-tempered, or disagreeable. Certainly, when you’re ill, 
you feel more vulnerable.”
When interviewing patients during exams, he says, it sometimes 
helps to simply ask them to describe their worst health concerns. “Some-
times their fear is something that wouldn’t even cross my mind, like a 
patient with a persistent cold who immediately thinks lung cancer,” says 
Welters. “Just telling them, ‘No, I don’t think that’s what it is,’ can put 
their mind at ease.”
Allow them to speak without interruption while you maintain eye 
contact. Ask open-ended questions that encourage patients to provide 
more detail. “And how is this affecting your personal life?” can throw 
wide the gate of communication.
Empathy is equally important, but it must be sincere. “Don’t say 
things like ‘I understand,’ because you really don’t know what they’re 
feeling,” says Welters. “It comes across as false. Instead, use phrases 
such as, ‘I understand from other patients who have had this condition 
that these are the things you might be feeling.’’