Helping physicians manage challenging patient encounters--Part I

In today's rapidly changing and challenging health care environment, where physicians have limited time with patients who have become more knowledgeable and demanding, the relationship between physician and patient has extra stresses placed on it. Medical malpractice litigation has increased as the physician-patient relationship has become more complex because of those stresses. In this article, some of the problems and effects of poor physician-patient interaction are explored, and a program designed to develop existing physician skills for successfully interacting with challenging patient encounters is described. In the January-February 1991 issue of Physician Executive, the author will describe the method of implementing the program in an organization.