Spectrum: the clinician and the "difficult" patient

Through the years, practitioners have attempted to discover more successful and empathic responses to address the needs of what has been referred to as the "difficult" patient. Writers in the past found it useful to define and cull out the distinctions that separated one type of "difficulty" in working with patients from another so as to "handle" some patients more effectively. Recently, it has been recognized and generally accepted that the "difficulty" in caring for patients frequently arises out of an interactional process between the patient and caregiver. This understanding requires practitioner self-awareness as well as reflection about motivations and responses to difficult clinical encounters. Two poems from the medical literature are explored as "clinical" examples that broaden our experience and understanding of the mystery and complexity of all human relationships.